


You Got Mail!

by Riverchester



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Chatting & Messaging, Dating, Fluff, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Mutual Pining, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-05 21:05:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11586180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Riverchester/pseuds/Riverchester
Summary: Dean is too late with applying for a class at college and tries to get a place by directly contacting the lecturer via email. A typo in the mail address leads to him contacting another student instead.Castiel is an English major at KU and should have gotten his mail account changed in order to not get spammed with work mails for his father, who unfortunately teaches at the same department. In the end, he's glad he didn't





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, so this is my first fanfiction ever. I'm a bit nervous to post it, but my sister assured me it's not too bad.
> 
> First of all, I want to let you know I'm going to post this fic bi-weakly, probably Sundays and Wednesdays.  
> I'm not a native English speaker, I'm German, so please forgive any grammatical errors. As I'm willing to learn, that doesn't mean for you to just overlook serious mistakes. Please let me know in form of constructive criticism.
> 
> Now to this fic: It's not covering any earth-shattering topics and will be mainly about Cas and Dean meeting, becoming friends and pining over each other. I rated it "mature" because I plan to include some intimacy between the two them, but I haven't yet decided how in-depth and graphic it's going to be, because even if I'm not new to READING explicit-stuff, I've never wrote anything (well, it is my first fic after all). As it won't be of importance for the first few chapters I have some time to decide, but I will change the rating of the fic should it get more graphic and I will add a little warning in the chapter notes.
> 
> So, after this stuff is dealt with all I've left to do is hoping you'll enjoy this fic and join me on gathering my first writing experiences :)

To say Castiel’s trip to the library has been fruitless is an understatement. _Fruitless_ would mean he would have come home with no results, but in addition to the lack of this one book he needs for an assignment, he was confronted with a packed building, full of freshmen and frantic stuff. Apparently, someone recommends his required reading in a first-year introduction class and as most newly undergraduates yet tend to be highly motivated in their attempt to _make-everything-right-from-the-beginning_ , Castiel first ended in front of an empty shelf and then face to face with a stressed out but equally apologetic temp, who had to put the student off until the copies would be returned. Including a torn strap on his backpack and a headache, the one hour between leaving and reentering his dorm easily nominates this Friday as worst day of the week.

Seeing the general chaos in the small kitchen of his shared apartment with Balthazar, as well as the open door to the other student’s bedroom, Castiel assumes his friend and self-proclaimed nighthawk managed to get up timely to his work shift. He walks over to the fridge to take out a bottle of juice. Well, he _would_ take out the juice, weren’t it for the prominent absence of anything besides some bottles of water and an already opened strawberry yogurt. Instead, scribbled on an obscene formed post-it note: “Sorry Cassy, I really needed that juice for my hangover. I promise to do the grocery shopping after my shift. Hang on, Balt,” Castiel reads out lout while considering to either curse his roommate or the whole universe as someone just has to be playing a game with him that day.

He settles for one of the water bottles and trots to his bedroom, pinching the bridge of his nose. After opening the window, he falls into his desk chair and launches the email program on his laptop. Beside the compulsory welcome mails to his new classes, nothing catches his eye till the very bottom of the inbox. There’s a mail from one _d._ winchester with the subject _introduction to religious topics in modern fiction – seat available?_. Opening the message, Castiel sighs, “Again. Well, that figures.”

 

** From ** **: d.winchester@ku.edu**

** To ** **: c_novak@ku.edu**

** Subject ** **: introduction to religious topics in modern fiction - seat available?**

 

Dear Mr. Novak, 

This is Dean Winchester, Mechanical Engineering major student at KU. I needed to reschedule my classes for this semester and now I am falling short of my calculated Minor credits. My adviser Mrs. Moseley told me you could place me in your class _introduction to religious topics in modern fiction_ on Tuesday afternoon. I already completed one other literature class last term and would like to hear your lecture so it would be nice if you are able to take in another student.

Sincerely,

Dean Winchester

 

Over the last two weeks Castiel received nearly a dozen mails not directed at him, but his father. When Chuck Novak had got the offer to be a guest lecturer for literature classes at Kansas University, his son hadn’t been sure how to react to the news. Surely, he loves his father and is happy to earn credits for his degree by attending a course about all the stuff he grew up with. But on the other side, Castiel has to deal with _fans_ of his father’s books occasionally since freshmen year – actually since high school, but the accumulation of nerdy science-fiction and fantasy novel readers is much higher in an English major program – and he definitely doesn’t need that to intensify with Chuck’s presence.

To overcomplicate this situation, Chuck - being himself – was either too busy to notice or just didn’t care about the resemblance between his email alias _c.novak@ku.edu_ and the alias his son used for all of the three years of his college time, _c_novak@ku.edu_.

The first time Castiel found a mail written to his father in his inbox he has been utterly confused. It came from KU administration office and was directed to _Mr. Novak_ , so it took him some time to figure out that it wasn't addressed to him.

The second time was confusing as well, but after that it just got annoying. He answered all mails, explained the typing error and told his father that they needed to find a solution quickly. The lectures were about to start, and he was sure his inbox would be stuffed with incorrectly addressed questions and messages he would never be able to keep track of, if they didn’t get rid of the problem. Castiel suggested for his father to change the alias, as the undergraduate used his mail address for years and would need to personally inform his professors, fellow students and the newsletters he signed up for about the change. Chuck managed to do so after first complaining about not knowing how to set up a new alias and no email to his father has landed in Castiel’s inbox in the last two days. Judging from the mail he’s just received, his father missed to inform the academic adviser’s office about the change.

Taking a sip from his water bottle he hits the return button and starts writing:

 

** From ** **: c_novak@ku.edu**

** To ** **: d.winchester@ku.edu**

**Re: introduction to religious topics in modern fiction - seat available?**

 

Dear Mr. Winchester,

I assume you had the intention to direct your request at Chuck Novak, so I see it as my duty to inform you about a typing error in the email address you used. Instead of “c.novak@ku.edu” you addressed “c_novak@ku.edu”, which is my account. I understand the confusion in the similarity of both email addresses. To reach Chuck Novak you can also use “chucknovak@ku.edu”.

Sincerely,

Castiel Novak

 

After hitting _send_ , he stretches and flexes his back muscles before sending a quick message to Meg asking if she had been able to get a copy of the recommended book for their paper. It is no time-sensitive assignment but as a usually so well-organized student, Castiel hates to put his work on hold right at the beginning of a term. He decides to at least start writing some paragraphs about historical context and author information.

About an hour later a _ping_ indicates a new email in his inbox. It is an answer on his reply to Dean Winchester. Castiel frowns. He never got a message back after clarifying the mistake.

****

** From ** **: d.winchester@ku.edu**

** To ** **: c_novak@ku.edu**

**Re: Re: introduction to religious topics in modern fiction - seat available?**

 

Hi Castiel,

Thanks for telling me about the error. I’ve seen you’re taking the class too. Do you mind me asking if there's a connection between you and Chuck Novak? The last name isn't quite common. Of course you don't have to answer, I'm just curious :)

Dean

 

Castiel smiles and that alone is quite new, considering he usually gets annoyed by questions like this. But the English major can’t blame the other man’s curiosity as it seems genuine and Novak is indeed an uncommon name. So again, he finds himself hitting the reply button.

 

** From ** **: c_novak@ku.edu**

** To ** **: d.winchester@ku.edu**

**Re: Re: Re: introduction to religious topics in modern fiction - seat available?**

Hello Dean,

I don't mind your question at all and to answer it: Yes, there is a connection. Chuck Novak is my father. If you don’t mind me being curious as well, I wonder how you know about me attending this class?

Castiel

 

Castiel catches himself waiting for Dean’s response instead of returning to his paper. It is nice having a conversation with the other man – if you can call the exchange of by now four emails, including the first misaddressed one, a conversation.

The dark-haired student could be described by many words, but _sociable_ isn’t one of them. Apart from Balthazar, his only other friend is Meg, a feisty fellow English major student.

They’ve met in his first year in the local coffee shop where she managed to talk the barista into giving her a cup for free. He had been stunned by the short woman and her ability to debate and – as it seemed – talk without the need for air. They met again later that week in class and sat next to each other. Somehow, they started meeting in the library for research and became friends. At that time Castiel had thought college would be a better place for him to make friends than high school, at least his classmates would be more mature he’d hoped, but he just couldn’t get warm with most of them.

Probably a good deal of his lack of contacts has to do with him attending few social events. Balthazar still tries from time to time to get him out of their apartment to join him and his friends for their evening activities, but mostly Castiel is left alone, for which he is grateful. It isn’t like he holes up in his room 24/7, but he delights in silence and a good book in his bed, in the library or under the big oak tree in front of his dorm. The weekly dinners with Meg and his nearly daily trip to the coffee shop do it for Castiel and all in all he is happy.

Still, answering Dean’s mails makes him wonder if it could do any harm to make other friends. Maybe now that they talked via mail it will be easier to start a conversation with the other student. That means, if Castiel would be able to identify him in the lecture hall.

His thoughts get interrupted by an incoming mail and Castiel smiles reading the sender.

 

** From ** **: d.winchester@ku.edu**

** To ** **: c_novak@ku.edu**

**Re: Re: Re: Re: introduction to religious topics in modern fiction - seat available?**

Hey Castiel,

Nah, its okay for you to ask. And I’m no creep hacking your computer or so, if you thought that. Your father forwarded me the welcoming mail for the class and your mail address was in the mailing list. I need to get going but thanks again for helping and I guess I’ll see you in class on Tuesday :)

Dean

 

Castiel definitely could get used to this. As he honestly lacks in the ability to make small talk with strangers when he’s standing face to face with them, he finds himself enjoying the responses from Dean and wonders if he’ll be able to improve his rather _rusty_ social skills to not make personal conversations awkward. After sending back a short “I never assumed that; you’re welcome; See you on Tuesday”, he continues working on his paper. However, just after a few minutes into the next paragraph he notices his concentration is slipping away from the task and to the prospect of making a new friend in Dean Winchester. He speculates what the man may look like or why he chose this class.

When Meg finally answers his message from earlier and suggests she could bring the book over, Castiel didn’t finish nearly as much of his writing as he’d hoped. With a smile still tugging at his mouth he just can’t feel guilty about it when instead he is looking forward to Tuesday.

 

\----------

 

Stirring cream and a dash of honey in his stainless steel mug full of steaming hot coffee, Castiel looks at his watch. The new girl behind the counter troubled with the coffee machine and so it took longer than expected to get his much-needed dose of caffeine. He isn’t running late, but as the first sessions of a term are always timely packed with people, he wants to be early enough to choose a seat.

On his way to the main building, while blowing on his coffee – he learned the hard way that they made some boiling stuff at the little corner shop – Castiel feels his phone buzzing in his pocket. It is a message from his dad saying “I know!” with a frowny face. He chuckles. The innocent confusion his father displays was still funny at times. Chuck called him the day before, totally puzzled as to why he was alone in a lecture hall where 30 students – including his son – should’ve been waiting for him. Castiel convinced him that his lecture was in fact on Tuesday morning, not Monday morning, but to be sure his father wouldn’t get confused again – and a bit to mock him for the call – he sent a quick reminder before leaving the dorm.

The hall is already filled with about ten other people when Castiel arrives. He remembers being in this room the term before. Apparently, no one bothered with oiling the door hinge as it still squeaks, even louder than before. He takes a seat in a middle row. Castiel avoids the first rows, as usual; it always seems to him like being at the center of everyone’s attention. The seats in the back are good for staying out of everybody’s view, but when he entered the room, he noticed some really talkative girls sitting in that place and he can imagine more interesting things than getting a passive two hours talk about what happened on gossip girl or whatever else is current on TV. If they were talking about Dr. Sexy M.D., he might listen. Castiel looks around and watches the people nearby. He wonders if Dean is there. They haven’t written since their little conversation on Friday but he caught himself a few times in the last days thinking about the other man.

At 9:57, three minutes before regular begin, the room is nearly packed and Castiel’s father tries to get the projector going. Of course, some students start getting to their feet to help Chuck Novak. A tall blonde guy in the row in front of Castiel is already doodling in his notepad and the lecture hasn’t even begun. The redheaded girl next to him is playing a game on her iPad. Some fantasy-themed Roleplay. Nothing really unusual for a class full of college English major and minor students.

Just as the sun-blind rolls down and Chuck opens his slides, indicating the begin of the class, Castiel hears the scraping sound of the door and turns around. Standing in the doorframe, slightly out of breath and searching around for a seat, is the most stunning man he’s ever seen.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I already finished this chapter, so here it is.  
> FYI: I'm using '----------' for time jumps of more than a few hours and '*****' for POV changes within a chapter  
> I'm already so happy to have posted this work, I'd never thought it would get many hits or even kudos, so thank you very much.  
> I hope you enjoy this chapter, too :)  
> As always, constructive criticism is asked for.

It figures. Dean has never been late to one of his classes in all the years. He wouldn’t be this time as well, if it weren’t for the guy blocking his baby in this morning. But now he is running down the hallway to the one class he needed to write the docent personally to attend. Finally arriving at room 2.015, he rushes inside. The door hinge is in urgent need for some oil and Dean is met with a dozen of eye pairs starring at him as he makes his way through the rows to find a seat. _What an entrance, Winchester_ he thinks to himself. He sits down, takes a minute to get his breathing under control and puts his notepad in front of him. The lecture started just a minute ago so it’s not too bad. On his right side the girl smiles at him.

Chuck Novak’s lecture is interesting, if a bit uncoordinated. He talks a lot about historical relevance of religious symbols and explains the content they’re going to cover in this class. Dean is pleased about the mixture of topics they’re going to deal with. He somehow thought the focus would be on Christian themes and symbols as it is the main aspect of Novak’s latest works. But in fact, the class will involve paganism as well as monotheistic religions and the use of their symbols and mythology in fiction of the last century. They will also look at examples for new religions invented in some novels.

The reading list makes him smile. It’s a variety of fantasy, horror and science fiction and he already read a lot of the titles or at least heard about them. Novak says it’s a list of books he himself used as inspiration for his writing, but he recommends for the assignments to also take a look at the original religious texts. That’s another part Dean already likes about this class. They are going to do three assignments each before finals, choosing out of a list - specific books to analyze or more general topics about different religious aspects - and signing on online according to the principle _first come first served_.

When Novak has a little trouble with the projector about an hour into the session, Dean looks around. The girl next to him is scribbling little figures in her notepad. Even drawn in ballpoint they look amazing. Some other people start talking quietly behind him and diagonally in front of him a guy has a book in his lap, while another seems to think his earplugs are unnoticeable. They probably were, considering the mop of hair, if it wasn’t for the bobbing of his knees to some kind of music.

After a few minutes, the lecture continues but Dean is still looking around. Somewhere in between these people must be Castiel. Dean was really glad for the mail he got Friday afternoon. Mrs. Moseley’s handwriting was unreadable and he is still lucky to only have misread a point for an underscore. Castiel’s first mail has been so formal that Dean thought he might be some sort of TA, but finding out that he’s actually Chuck Novak’s son made sense in hindsight. _Of course_ the author of so many mythology novels would name his son after an angel. Dean might have looked up the name on the internet, but hey, nobody can blame him for his curiosity.

He smirked at the thought of the other student. He has no idea how this guy looks like so it’s going to be difficult to find and talk to him right now, but maybe he can write a mail this evening, asking how he liked the class today and which assignments he would sign up to. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.

It’s Dean’s second term with English as his minor and he knows close to no one in this department. He realized quickly that he’s a person who needs company when studying. Not to actually write his assignments, but for the whole process of idea-gathering and mind-mapping. He just functions better when able to discuss the topics with someone else. Sometimes it’s not even necessary for someone attending his classes to keep him company. His best friend Charlie, an information science major, often sits next to him in the library or canteen or his own bed and they work on their respective tasks with some not-related discussions in between and it still resolves in better results than Dean working on his own.

So maybe he could get on friendly terms with Castiel, even if only for joint study.

 

\----------

 

After two classes and an exhausting shift in the shop Dean opens the door to his apartment at nine. Fortunately, he can sleep in a bit on Wednesdays. Without looking he puts his keys on an end table next to the door, drops his bag to the side and makes his ways to the bathroom to take a shower. Hot steam fills the little room when he steps under the spray and grabs the fruity body foam. It’s a leftover from Sam’s last stay and Dean uses it regularly because of how good it feels on his skin and how nice he smells afterward, something he would never admit to his brother.

Toweling off he wipes over the foggy mirror to take a look. He could use a shave, the stubble turned into something a bit more beard-like over the last days. Tomorrow morning he’ll have enough time to take care of it.

Changing into clean boxers, sweats and one of his old band shirts, he takes his laptop to the couch and launches it while opening Netflix on his TV. The WiFi-compatible TV has been the only luxury he treated himself with when moving in the little apartment. Beside his memory foam mattress.

He zaps through the options, not able to decide what to watch, when his email account lets him know about his new mails. There’s on from Garth, his lab partner in Thermal Dynamics, asking if Dean still has his formulary in digital format and if he could send it to him. Dean chuckles, it’s always the same with this guy. They’ve worked together since spring term of Freshman Year on several courses and projects and first the short man with his goofy grin seemed suspicious to Dean, but he learned rapidly that the other student is just a warmhearted if sometimes a little bit dopey guy and they get along quite well.

The other new mail is from Chuck Novak. The online system will be ready to sign-up for priorities for the assignments from Wednesday 8pm to Thursday midnight. They will get informed about the results on Friday or Saturday with additional material to each topic and the due dates.

Seeing the other addresses in the mailing list reminds him that he still wants to write Castiel.

 

**From** : **d.winchester@ku.edu**

** To ** **: c_novak@ku.edu**

**Subject** :

 

Hi Castiel, …

 

Just as he opens a new mail he notices that he has absolutely no idea how to begin. Their conversation on Friday has been caused by his typo, but now? He thinks for a minute about some opening sentences but in the end, he goes for something lame and short.

 

** From ** **: d.winchester@ku.edu**

** To ** **: c_novak@ku.edu**

**Subject** :

 

Hi Castiel,

I hope you had a good start into the term. How did you like the lecture this morning? Your father seemed a bit chaotic but I really look forward to all the topics. I’m a bit on the fence with my priorities for the assignments. Do you have an idea what you’re going to choose?

Dean

 

He hits send and leans back on the couch. Maybe it wasn’t the best move to insult the father and ask a ton of questions, but it’s too late now anyway.

Dean gets back to scrolling through his Netflix watching list and settles for an episode of Firefly. It never hurts to rewatch this show. He leaves his email account open, just in case, and sure enough it only takes about ten minutes till he gets a reply from Castiel. Pausing the episode, he opens the message.

 

** From ** **: c_novak@ku.edu**

** To ** **: d.winchester@ku.edu**

**Re: no subject**

 

Good evening Dean,

Yes, I had a good start into this week, thank you. I hope your courses has been to your liking as well so far. The lecture was very interesting and yes, my father can be disorganized at times :). I am still in the process of deciding my priorities but I hope to cover a lot of different religious aspects as well as genres with the assignments. C.S. Lewis’ “Out of the Silence Planet” is definitely on top of my list right now. I read it a few years ago and would like to read it again.

Castiel

 

Dean laughs to himself. This guy always sounds like he is writing something official. It’s dorky but Dean likes their exchange.

 

** From ** **: d.winchester@ku.edu**

** To ** **: c_novak@ku.edu**

**Re: Re: no subject**

 

I haven’t read this Lewis book yet, but I have the Wikipedia page open right now and it seems interesting. I hope to get assigned with the Cthulhu-Mythos-topic. I have a thing for Lovecraft, but otherwise I’m still deciding.

 

They continue writing for a bit about their expectations for the school year and Dean learns that Castiel is a senior, a year ahead of himself in his studies, until Dean sends his phone number. It’s getting too complicated to write the mails when they could be messaging over the phone. And it’s getting late too, so Dean wants to shut the laptop down and get comfortable on the sofa.

**> > unknown number:** Hello Dean, this is Castiel. I just wanted to send a message so you have my number, too.

**< < Dean:** Hey Cas. Can I call you Cas? My autocorrection doesn’t seem to like your name and changes it to “Castile” every time.

**> > unknown number:** It’s okay, I kind of like it. Better than the nickname my brother and roommate use.

Dean smiles at how fast the reply came and saves the number under _Cas_.

**< < Dean:** so bad?

**> > Cas:** Yes. It’s Cassy.

**< < Dean:** your brother older than you?

**> > Cas:** Yes, why do you ask?

Dean laughs out loud. He doesn’t know Cas’ brother but he can absolutely relate. It’s just what big brothers do, like an unwritten law, and it doesn’t matter if your not-so-little brother is a 6’4 college student.

**< < Dean:** because i have a younger brother too and he always complains about me calling him Sammy instead of Sam. if I really want to drive him up the wall I call him Samantha. But he knows its just teasing ;)

**> > Cas:** Gabriel has mastered the art of teasing so I’m used to it by now. Still, I like Cas more :) Is your brother much younger than you?

And again Dean finds himself grinning at the small screen of his phone like an idiot. It’s nice how they shifted from a solely academic related conversation to _getting-to-know-each-other_. He always likes to talk about Sammy. His genius brother is his pride and joy, cutting his way through the depths of pre-law in fancy California. And talking to Cas is simply so uncomplicated so he really enjoys it despite the short amount of time they actually mailed or messaged each other.

**< < Dean:** not really, he’s 4 years younger, studies pre-law in Stanford with a full scholarship. gonna be some real fancy lawyer. I think he wants to go into family law or something like this.

Yeah, it’s a bit of showing off, but it’s true and Dean just want’s everybody to know how awesome his little brother is.

**> > Cas:** Wow, that sounds amazing. He must be really smart. My brother Michael is a lawyer. He went to college in Boston and still lives there.

**< < Dean:** You have many siblings?

**> > Cas:** No, just two older brothers. Gabriel went to culinary school and has a bar and restaurant in New York.

**< < Dean:** Mh, Boston and New York. How comes you landed in Lawrence?

**> > Cas:** I lived here until my first year of middle school. Michael was already off to college, Gabriel finished high school and wanted to go to New York, so my parents decided to sell the house and instead move around for their jobs. It was easier with just one child. I’m not made for the big city and always had pleasant memories of this town, so I decided to enroll here for my English degree.

**< < Dean:** oh wow, was it hard to move around so much? I can totally relate to you not liking the big cities. If I want to have some downtown adventures I can do that, but no rush-hour traffic interferes with my home time here.

They write back and forth for some more time. Nothing earth-shattering but Dean likes it even more the longer their conversation lasts. When he checks the time on the top edge of the screen he nearly chokes on his own breath. It’s twenty minutes to midnight, they have been sending messages for nearly an hour and he never got back to watch Firefly. Dean tells Cas he’s going to bed, says goodnight and stands up from the sofa yawning. After he’s brushed his teeth and set his alarm, he settles under the blanket in his bed. On the nightstand, his phone buzzes with Cas’ reply.

**> > Cas:** Goodnight Dean and pleasant dreams.

Dean falls asleep with a smile on his face.

The next days fly by with the same old routine: getting up, going to school then to the shop – sometimes the other way around – having lunch in between with Charlie or Benny, maybe calling Sam for a few minutes before making dinner for himself and going to bed or dropping off in front of the TV. The only new thing to his weeks before is that Dean keeps texting with Cas. They write about trivial things, stuff they see over the day. On Thursday, they have a discussion about a short story in Chuck’s reading list but otherwise they don’t talk about class at all.

Dean gets home on Friday evening after a frustrating day at school and an even more frustrating shift at the shop, where a customer in a fancy suit tried to escape paying for the repair by blaming Dean for a scratch in the paintwork on his swanky car. Luckily, his boss Rufus was the one who took the car in and had seen the little cut before Dean even started working on the car. He finds himself telling Cas about it and the other man manages to calm him down. This night, he climbs into bed with a smile, just like every other day of the week.

 

*****

 

On next Tuesday Castiel again waits in his favorite coffee shop as Hannah, the girl who troubled with the coffee machine the week before, hands him his coffee with a shy grin. She’s worked the morning shift nearly daily for the last week and remembered which roast he likes most. He puts his change in the tip jar and shoulders his bag to make the short walk to his next class. He is even more nervous than he has been the Tuesday before because today he is determent to meet Dean in person.

When they started texting instead of writing emails he was sure they could become friends. At least Castiel really hopes they would, because texting with Dean – not only about school and their shared course but also about personal or trivial things from their everyday life – is just so easy and comforting in a way he never thought he would crave for. And he still wants more. He wants to meet with the other student for coffee or maybe to watch a film together. Over the last few days he learned that Dean is highly familiar with pop culture and although Castiel never felt desire for TV and video games – except his guilty pleasure Dr. Sexy M.D. – he finds himself wanting to understand the references Dean makes when texting. He even looked up one or two at the beginning, when he didn’t get the meaning, but Dean was probably right, it isn’t as funny to read about the meaning instead of getting it first-handed.

He takes the same seat as last week, this time alone in the room except for the two girls in the last row. While arranging his notebook and pens on the desk, his phone buzzes.

**> >Dean:** Hey, you already there?

**< < Cas:** Yes. I’m sitting in the fourth row.

Castiel looks down at himself before adding:

**< < Cas:** I’m wearing a grey sweater.

It’s almost October and while the days are still warm enough for a light long-sleeve or even a T-shirt, the nights are getting colder and he needed his fleecy sweater this morning. Soon it’ll be cold enough for his trench coat.

His thoughts get interrupted by a figure standing at the end of the seating row.

“Cas?”

The deep voice comes from an unfairly handsome young man. Tall build, broad shoulders and mesmerizing green eyes framed by dark lashes in an all in all beautiful face. It’s the same guy Castiel has been stunned about the week before, when he entered the classroom a little late.

He knows this is Dean, who else would call him Cas, but he’s still too smitten by the dirty blond haired prime example of a man in front of him to form anything more intelligent than “Yeah?”

“Oh, hi, I’m Dean. Man, it’s good to see you in person”, Dean smiles at him and holds out his hand for Castiel to take before sliding in the seat right next to him, “It’s much easier now, having a face to the name.”

He is not sure if he can agree with Dean on the _easier_ part. Knowing the guy is funny and kind over messages is one thing for Castiel to keep thinking about, but seeing the plush lips, cute freckles and emerald green of wide, friendly eyes is taking his thoughts down a completely other road.

“Yes, I’m glad we finally meet,” he agrees and clears his throat.

They stay silent for a few minutes. It’s a bit awkward and Castiel would like to say something to break the ice but he doesn’t know how to start. When they text, the conversations come out of the moment when they see something interesting, but now it seems kind of forced to interact with this gorgeous man to his right. All he does is fiddling with his hands.

“Did you make any progress in your poem last night?” Dean is the first to speak after a while. He seems to remember about Castiel’s troubles with one of his classes’ tasks. Poetry has never been his pet issue and certainly never will be.

“A bit,” he sighs as an answer, “Unfortunately, it’s a compulsory course, otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it. When I as much as _hear_ about iambic pentameter again after this term, I might take a liking to alcohol.”

“Oh Cas,” Dean laughs. It’s a heart-warming full-body laugh with his head thrown back “I don’t think you’ll get around doing it again if you want to teach English.”

“That might be right. But at least I won’t get graded for it.”

They talk for a bit, now that the ice is broken, and Dean complains about a guy, who continues to block in his car every other day. Castiel finds himself staring. The other student is even more humorous and vivid in person than via text and he just likes to listen to this wide-eyed man.

He doesn’t notice at first how the seats around them fill steadily with other students and it’s not until his father announces the beginning of the class, that the two stop talking and focus on Chuck and his slides. Well, Dean seems to focus, but Castiel is still side-eying his seatmate every few minutes.

After the two hours are up the room fills with noise as everyone gathers their things and leaves. Just as Dean stands up to make his way out of the row, he turns around. “Would you like to join me and my best friend Charlie for lunch?”, he asks.

Castiel needs a moment to process the question but answers with a grin spread on his face, “I would like that very much. Thank you, Dean.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3 is well on the way so I'll post it next weekend.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here is chapter 3. Next chapter will get uploaded sometime next week, but I don't know yet when exactly. I'm writing my term paper right now, but it's finished in a few days so I have more time to do the fun writing.  
> For chapter 3: I got carried away a bit, so it's slightly longer than the first two. I just couldn't find the right time to stop it. I hope you don't mind and it's still enjoyable :)  
> I'm still baffled that you seem to like this fic and that's a huge motivation to keep writing. I even have some other ideas already in mind for some very long summer nights. Let's just hope studying for my finals won't be afflicted with it.

Charlie Bradbury is a very … _unique_ woman. Castiel doesn’t mean that negatively, quite the opposite, it’s just that he never before met another person like her, radiating such an amount of positive energy. She is vibrant. For one, in her appearance, with the blazing red hair, purple reading glasses and colorful clothes. Castiel takes a liking to her t-shirt, a simple blue piece of fabric with some geometric silver imprint – a triangle, a circle and a line.  But she is also so lively and dynamic in many other ways; in the way she talks while gesticulating with her whole body or how she manages to multi-task between holding a monolog about how she confused someone she saw on the street the other day with a famous actress, checking her phone for twitter-news and munching on a bacon-sandwich.

When Dean introduces them, she embraces him like an old friend and while Castiel is surprised and freezes on the spot for a moment, his stiffness quickly dissipates with her warm hug and contagious smile.

That’s how he finds himself sitting at a small round table outside a little café with two people he recently called strangers and enjoys not only his caesar salad but also their conversation like he hasn’t in a long time.

“You know, I really hoped to meet you. Dean can be glad he introduced us so soon, or I would have pestered him about you endlessly,” Charlie smirks.

“Oh, you told her about me?” Castiel is a bit surprised by this.

Dean rubs the back of his neck when saying, “Yeah, sorry man, she just grabbed my phone last weekend when we were texting and asked who you are.”

“I was curious!”, Charlie throws a bit of her bread crust at Dean, “He normally ignores messages when we’re having a gaming night unless it’s Sam. When he said it’s not his brother, I really needed to know who you are. I’m sorry if it makes you uncomfortable.”

“No, it doesn’t and you two don’t have to apologize at all. I guess I just … wasn’t expecting it”, Castiel explains. And it’s true, he isn’t uncomfortable, if anything he feels _happy_. The messages they send last weekend were highly irrelevant in their content but he welcomes Charlie’s statement with a bit of proud that he could get Dean’s attention with them.

The topics the two other students start to discuss vocally and with a lot of laughter doesn’t always make sense to Castiel, but they take care to involve him as much as possible and the redheaded girl drills him with questions about his interests and his studies.

“How can you possibly _not_ know Star Wars?”, she asks, her voice getting louder and higher while she shakes her head.

“I -” Castiel starts. It isn’t the first time he gets approached with this subject, “I simply never had interest in it as a child or a teen, and later, when I heard people talking about ‘original trilogy’ and ‘new trilogy’ and how to start watching it, I was just too confused to actually do -”

“Four!” both Dean and Charlie interrupt him, but Castiel just looks at them confused.

“You should start with episode four,” Dean clarifies.

“I heard that a dozen times already, but it still doesn’t make sense. Why should I start a film series with the fourth movie?”

“All that confusion wouldn’t be happening without the shitty prequels. Natalie Portman may be cute as Padme, but she’s nowhere near the sex appeal of Leia,” Charlie mumbles, while Dean turns a bit in his seat to directly look at Castiel.

“Look, the fourth episode was the first Star Wars film and is the beginning of the original trilogy. What is now called episodes one to three is just a bunch of prequels to explain the backstory of a character. But the original films are much better and you should really start with them”, he says.

“Oh.” hearing it from Dean suddenly makes much more sense, “I guess I understand now, and if you are so adamant about me starting with the original series, I think I should try that.”

Charlie claps her hands and grins mischievously, “Great! Another human being rescued from the hell of not knowing the grace of Star Wars. But I suppose this isn’t the only thing you magically missed when growing up.”

Castiel shrugs.

“Yeah… that’s going to be so. much. fun! I make it my personal quest – no, _duty_ – to teach you in the fine art of television. And probably video gaming, too.”

He can see Dean rolling his eyes at her, but she just pigs out on the last bit of her sandwich, slams a little notebook covered in stickers on the table and opens the cap of her ballpoint to stare at Castiel with eager eyes, “Boys, I have…,” she looks at her watch, “I have exactly 40 minutes till my next class starts and I damn well gonna use them to make a list.”

And so _the mission_ , how Charlie calls it, starts. She lists over a dozen different titles of movies, TV series, and even books – the only field in which Castiel actually can stand her critical questions, except the near heart-attack she gets when hearing he just started the Harry Potter novels and is currently reading book four. A lot of his favorite books, he learns, were made into films and he eagerly adds them to the steadily filling list in Charlies notebook. Sometimes, however, both she and Dean scrunch their noses at that. Apparently, some films are _not worthy to share even the title with the book they base on_ – Charlie’s words, not his – and as Dean seems to share her opinion, Castiel is not the one to question it.

Before the redhead leaves for her class, she takes his phone from where it lay on the table and quickly adds her number to the contact list. This small action makes Castiel smile and he feels cheerful. He didn’t have to ask for her number – well, he didn’t ask Dean as well – and he has the feeling she genuinely likes him. It’s a sympathy he easily reciprocates.

“So, now you know Charlie as well,” Dean says once they’re alone, “she can be much to handle sometimes. Sorry if she jumped you a bit with this whole stuff.”

“Yes, she is definitely something different,” Castiel answers with a smirk, “but I really like her and I don’t mind her effort to show me some pop culture. In fact, I thought about getting to know some of this myself. I had difficulties with some of the references you make when we’re texting. You seem rather fond of these topics yourself.”

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Dean responds with a smile as he grabs his neck again, a habit Castiel noticed more than once during their lunch and it looks adorable on the tall man.

They make their way down the street towards the campus. Castiel has another class soon and Dean needs to get back to his car. Their steps are in unison and the two of them walk much closer than Castiel thought he would feel pleasant about, but honestly, he finds himself seeking the proximity. The other student doesn’t seem to mind either, or simply doesn’t notice, so he can’t feel ashamed for feeling at ease in the warmth radiating from their bodies. And even the silence between them doesn’t dampen the mood. Castiel usually feels the urge to say something, like it would be expected from him to make small talk or to keep the conversation flowing, but with Dean he enjoys just hearing the wind blow through the leaves and sensing the sunshine on his face.

He stays quiet till they reach the campus parking lot, “Thank you, Dean. I really liked having lunch with you.”

“Anytime, Cas,” Dean beams at him, “I’m glad we finally met and that Charlie didn’t scare you off.”

“Not a bit. Like I said, I like her and I had a lot of fun,” Castiel answers both the other man’s statement and smile.

They are standing next to a big, shiny black car and Dean fumbles with the lock, so apparently, this must be his _baby,_ as he often refers to it in their messages.

“Your baby is beautiful, Dean,” he hears himself saying and he means it. He may not know a lot about cars in general, but the classic elegance of this older model is obvious, as is the amount of care it probably gets from its driver.

Judging the big grin on Deans face, it was the right thing for Castiel to say. “Yes, she is,” the green-eyed man says while fondly patting the hood of the car.

Before entering the driver’s side, Dean turns around and looks Castiel directly in the eyes. “You know, I usually go to the library on Thursdays to work on college stuff. You can join me if you like. I mean, we’re sharing two out of three assignments in Chucks class, so it would be helpful to go through the texts together. I could try to reserve one of those little group working rooms for us, where we can talk in a normal volume. That means, if you’re free.”

Castiel was getting even happier. He already thought about bringing up a way to meet with the other undergraduate again soon, but Dean makes it easy for him. He answers and nods simultaneously, “That is a very good idea. And Thursday would indeed be convenient, I have some classes in the morning and early afternoon, but I’m mostly free at 3pm, if that’s okay for you.”

“Yup, I can manage that. I don’t work on Thursdays and have only classes in the morning,” comes Deans response. He climbs behind the wheel and starts the engine, “I guess I see you on Thursday. I’ll text you the exact time. Bye Cas.”

He winks and Castiel is again smitten by how extremely handsome the other man is. He needs a moment to get his mouth to work, so his own soft goodbye is mostly directed at the trunk of the passing car and its stunning driver, “Goodbye Dean.”

 

*****

 

_It was the heat of the moment_

_Telling me what my heart meant_

_The heat of the moment showed in your eyes_

 

“And now you find yourself in '82. The disco hot spots hold no charm for you…” Dean sings quietly, more to himself, but his whole body vibrates to the upbeat sound of the song as he thrums his screwdriver on his thigh like a drumstick.

“Dude, Asia?” comes a voice from behind. It’s Gordon, who walks out of the changing room with Benny.

Dean doesn’t answer to that. He doesn’t like Gordon, but even that idiot can’t stop the smile tugging at Dean’s mouth today.

“Wow, something’s got you in one hell of a mood, Winchester!” says Gordon, making his ways over to a workplace on the other side of the shop. Benny, however, stays a bit where Dean is currently bent over the open hood of an old Ford, still tapping his toes to the last beats of _Heat of the Moment_.

“Hey Bro.”

“Hey Benny,” he answers the bearded man.

Benny is Dean’s oldest friend, if you exclude members he counts as family, and during high school they were roaming through the woods or down the streets of Lawrence downtown.

“You know, you were a ray of sunshine the whole last week, but Gordon’s right, today I have to look away to not get blinded by your merriment. You’re not ill, are you?” Benny smirks.

“Wow,” Dean says while looking at his friend, “I guess I usually spread dejection, if you’re all so shocked seeing me smile.”

“No, not at all. It’s just, I haven’t seen you so… lighthearted -,” Dean snorts at that but his friend just continues, “Yeah, not really the word I often use to describe people, but it’s true. I haven’t seen you like this in a long time, if _ever_. That is, when you’re not drunk, which you certainly aren’t _now._ Well, you’re not near making any competition to Charlie’s usual appearance, but still. I’m just wondering what’s the reason to all this.”

“Nothing special, maybe just the weather? Or that I finally finished to get the gear going on that stupid Jeep.” _Or that I had lunch with an enormously gorgeous guy_ , Dean thinks but doesn’t add to the – even to him – slightly inconvincible explanation he gives to the other man.

In truth, he knows _for sure_ that it’s Castiel who got him in high spirits. It started right the moment he stopped in that seating row in the classroom and saw the guy for the first time. Well, actually it was the second time, as Dean remembered peering at Cas’ profile during Chucks first lecture the week before. He sat with a book in his lap while his father troubled with the projector, but Dean had no idea at that time how sharp and well defined the other man’s features actually were. He wouldn’t call the guy _cute_ or _pretty_ – at least not his outer characteristics – but absolutely handsome with the dark hair, looking a bit like was he lying in bed just a second ago. The one thing he can’t stop himself from calling _beautiful_ are Cas’ eyes. In his own head, Dean doesn’t even feel ashamed for cheesily comparing their color to sapphires.

He tried his best during the two-hour lecture to not look sideways to the other man but ended struggling to at least not make his staring too obvious. Asking Cas to join him and Charlie for lunch had been a flash of inspiration, born from not wanting to part ways with the handsome guy so soon, and the gummy smile he got in return did things to him, as did the deep and gravelly voice accompanying a shy response from Castiel.

Dean is still convinced he never before talked less when meeting up with Charlie, because for one thing, his best friend didn’t give him any time to form more than two coherent sentences, as she was too busy drilling Cas with her own questions, and for another thing, he himself practically hung on the guy’s every word.

Maybe he should thank Charlie for sort of setting up at least a few movie nights for them to go through her list.

It took Dean the entire length of their walk to his baby to work up the courage to ask Cas on joining him for a study session, which is all kinds of absurd. He had no problem writing the email a week before, or sending his phone number and he had also no trouble with being the first to text Cas nearly every day, but somehow, he needed to hear the dark-haired man’s compliment on his car to get his mouth working.

His first intention when he started sending emails back and forth with Cas was to get to know someone he can study with, but now with them texting and actually meeting in person he pretty much hopes to call the other man a friend instead of an acquaintance soon. Or even… _no, not going there, Winchester. Dangerous territory, you don’t even know if he swings that way._ Dean has to stop his traitorous mind from going in this specific direction. It’s not really healthy to start pining over a guy he barely knows.

Fingers snipping in front of his face bring Dean back from his thoughts. “Earth to Dean. You’re still with me, buddy?” Benny asks with a deep laugh.

“Huh? Yeah, sorry, what did you say?” is all Dean can manage.

His friend’s laugh grows louder, “I just said ‘If you say so’, but I doubt your little daydream right now was about the weather or the Jeep.”

Dean blushes and hopes the smear of grease on his cheek covers the tinge of red crawling over his face. Lucky for him, Benny doesn’t push any further and shuffles over to his own workplace.

 

\----------

 

Wednesday is quite a busy day for Dean. First, he has classes for six hours straight, then Sam calls him to rave about a girl, Jess, who apparently accepted to go out with him, and as the awesome older brother he is, Dean waits the whole twenty minutes of Sam’s romantic chatter before starting the inevitable teasing as well as some very embarrassing – for Sam – tips for the date. He’s happy for his little brother but still tries to not totally fall for the mesmerizing way the younger man talks about the girl. He can clearly remember Sam’s demon of a high school sweetheart, Ruby, and how she succeeded to drive a wedge between the two brothers for a short time until she showed her true face.

When he reaches the library, Dean ends the call and heads to the info desk to make a reservation for one of the group work rooms. The young woman behind the desk smiles shyly at him and twists a strand of hair between her fingers. In his usual flirty way he winks at her and turns around, just to stop short to not run down the guy standing there. An apology already forms on his tongue but when he sees Cas’ sparkling blue eyes catching his own, he nearly chokes on air.

“Hello, Dean. It’s nice to see you here,” the dark-haired man says in his normal, gravelly voice and again, goosebumps tingle over Dean’s neck.

“Oh, hey Cas. Good to see you, too. Sorry I nearly ran into you,” Dean replies.

“It’s okay, no harm done.” The smile Cas gives him is just as adorable as it was the day before.

Dean steps to the side to let the other man finish his business at the information desk. He asks if a copy of some kind of novel already got returned but haven’t been sorted back into the shelf yet. Dean just watches Castiel. He watches the other student’s hands moving while he explains the situation, or the friendly and innocent smile he gives the girl behind the desk. Dean roams over the other man’s body, taking in the – again – messy mop of dark hair. It’s the first time he can stare at Cas’ standing form for a little while and his eyes fixate on the back muscles indicated through the thin material of the shirt. His hands twitch at his side in an involuntary attempt to touch.

When the young woman disappears behind a shelf, Cas turns around for the short moment she’s absent and the warm smile, nearly beaming, causes Dean’s body to react automatically. His own mouth corners turn up and a shiver goes down his spine. While his body is busy with radiating happiness, his mind tries to analyze his excessive fascination with the guy in front of him. It’s obvious he finds Castiel attractive; like, _really_ attractive. But something like that never made him stutter or lost for words. Maybe it’s the other man’s polite and accurate way of talking and even texting. He pays attention to spelling and punctuation, no matter how short the message is. He takes the things Dean has to say so serious and always finds the right words for the respective situation. That might be just a side effect of, or a reason for, his major program, but the dorky way he never seems to feel ashamed of chasing up a topic or joke he didn’t get warms Dean’s heart and he still wants to learn so much more about Castiel Novak.

The relieved sigh coming from Cas probably means he’s been successful with the book and he holds it up triumphantly when turning around to Dean again.

“Finally! I came here every day of the last week on my way home and now I can really start on my paper,” he says while following Dean out of the building, “a friend of mine came over with her copy so I could have a look at it, but it’s much better to work with an exemplar on my own. I was too stingy to actually buy it, because it’s not really a topic I’m interested in enough to clear a spot for in my hopelessly overstuffed bookshelf.”

“I’m glad your persistence paid off,” comes Dean’s response while he opens the door for Cas.

“Me, too. I could definitely use a coffee now,” he says and already walks down the street towards the popular food corner just outside the campus area, “if you are free, would you like to join me?”

It’s the question Dean hoped for, so he eagerly answers with _yes_ and the two men make their way into the little coffee shop.

“Do you come here often?” and as soon as the words left his mouth, Dean wants to punch himself. It’s one of the _lamest_ pick-up-lines and it doesn’t matter he didn’t mean it as one to begin with.

But Cas doesn’t tease him about it and just answers seriously while stepping in the line, “Practically every day, except sometimes on the weekends,” he blushes a bit before continuing and it’s probably the most adorable thing Dean has ever seen, “I’m not a morning person and don’t function like a normal human being before a cup of coffee.”

Just that _that_ is the reason for the dark-haired man be a little flustered, keeps him laughing – in a positive way – but he makes sure to quickly add his own comment to not give a wrong impression. “I can totally relate. It seems like a century ago when I didn’t even like coffee and now I sometimes have the feeling it’s not only blood running through my veins anymore.”

“Then it’s a shame we never met here before. I’m sure I would have remembered you.”

Now it’s Dean’s turn to blush. Did Cas _flirt_ with him or did his imagination finally dismissed itself in a very inappropriate direction?

 “I guess I would have remembered you as well,” hey, if it was a flirt, he just reciprocates and if it wasn’t, Cas will probably interpret it just as innocent as his own statement, “but I’ve never been here before. I use my coffee maker at home or go to a shop near my workplace, so it’s no wonder we haven’t met over a coffee sooner.”

Before the other man can reply, they get interrupted by a dark-haired girl behind the counter as they reach the end of the line.

“Hi Castiel, seems to be a stressful day if I see you for the second time,” she smiles.

“Hello Hannah. A bit, but it’s already better and after some caffeine, I’m back to full energy,” Cas answers as she hands over a cup, without him having to order.

When Dean gets a coffee himself, the blue-eyed man already picked a booth for them in the back and is emptying a tiny jar into his mug.

“You drink your coffee with honey?” Dean asks out of sheer curiosity and with a warm smile as he slips into the seat across from Cas.

“Yes, it’s a bit of an addiction,” he laughs, “my whole family has kind of a sweet tooth, except for Michael, and while Gabriel stuffs himself with everything at least partly sugary, I tend to cover everything in honey.”

“I have to admit I never even thought about trying that”

“Do you want to?” And with that Cas shoves his own mug into the center of the table.

To Dean, it’s a pretty intimate gesture and he has to take a moment to recollect himself before reaching in front and bringing the steaming hot cup to his mouth. He blows on the surface and takes a sip. It’s sweet, but less strongly than he imagined and much better than coffee with sugar. When he lifts his gaze again, Castiel is staring at him with almost childlike anticipation. His eyes are so wide, Dean has to catch himself from drowning in the blue. Instead, he puts the cup back on the table and shoves it to Cas with a smile.

“It’s better than I thought, but I hope you forgive me for staying with my simple black coffee,” he says.

“Of course! I may not comprehend how you can drink it like this, but everybody has their own taste, I guess,” comes Cas’ response with a grin as he takes back his mug and sips from it.

He knows it’s completely ridiculous, but Dean can’t stop himself from gaping at Castiel’s lips touching the rim. They’re not even close to the spot his own lips touched a minute ago, but his brain seems to transform into that of a school girl with a crush, because he actually wonders if it would count as some form of kissing if it _were_ the same spot. _You’re walking straight into craziness!_ He thinks to himself.

“So…,” Dean starts as he desperately searches for something to talk about, “did you … have a nice day after our lunch yesterday?” _Okay, now he’s definitely going to think you’re some lame idiot_.

Until the day before, it was just so easy and uncomplicated for him to communicate with Cas but the more comfortable and loose he feels around the other man, the more he wants to please and impress the guy. Dean knows he’s simple. He’s not stupid by any means, but his interests and skills aren’t really impressive. So, while sitting face to face with a smart, handsome, sex-on-legs kind of guy, a small part of his brain feeds him with not very motivating thoughts: _With someone as eloquent and intellectual as Cas; do I need to be… more… to have a chance on being his friend or… lover? Well, yeah, there’s the word, ‘lover’. Wow, so it’s official now, no way to deny it anymore, Winchester._

Because his traitorous mind is busy with unsettling him, Dean doesn’t catch Cas started to talk.

“… so she asked, if I’d be up for it.”

“Sorry, who asked if you’re up for what?” he says and if Cas feels offended, he doesn’t show, “I’m sorry, I was lost in thought.”

This time, it’s a new kind of smile he sees on the other man’s face. It’s warm and understanding, barely visible save for a timid brilliance in Cas’ eyes.

“It’s okay, Dean. You don’t need to apologize. I run off from topics with my mind regularly. I probably looked the same when I tried honey in my coffee for the first time,” he winks and with a short sentence and an innocent gesture he lets Dean’s negative thoughts dissipate.

“And I don’t mind repeating for you,” Castiel continues, “I said that Charlie texted me last evening and asked when I’m free to go through the list. She told me about your habit to meet up on Saturdays and suggested I could just join you this weekend.”

“Oh, yeah, sure. That’s a great idea!” Dean practically beams with the prospect of seeing Cas on four different days this week.

“I thought so, too, but I wanted to ask you first if it’s okay to just intrude this little tradition of yours to watch movies you already know.”

“No, Cas, I don’t mind at all. That’s going to be so much fun. And believe me, the films we’re gonna show you are worth to be watched more than once, hell, more than twenty times.”

“In that case I’m really looking forward to it,” Cas says and takes a sip from his cup.

They talk for over half an hour and as their mugs grow cold they decide to order another round. Cas talks about his plans for after college and Dean admits he, like Cas, thinks about doing a master degree to teach, because, even if he likes to fix cars and is happy with his studies, he can’t see himself in any of the future plans of his fellow students. Somehow that topic leads to their own time in high school and Dean hates to hear about Cas being quite lonely.

“People can be very… _explicit_ in their aversion or even disgust. Be it because of your good grades or because of your sexuality. I had to learn that the hard way,” the last sentence was more of a whisper but Dean hears it nonetheless and the shock it gives him must show on his face, because Cas continues with an even more careful choice of words.

“I had this… _friend_ , Rachel, in one of the high schools I’ve been to. She knew about my little, well, you could call it _crush_ , on a guy in my class. He was part of the football team. Rachel convinced me that he likes me as well by telling me the guy asked her about my hobbies and interests and so on. I decided to ask him out, which was a huge deal for me. I was nearly seventeen, my parents knew about me being gay but I never acted on it before.” He stops for a moment like he considers something and Dean just stares, totally quiet, even holding his breath, as he realizes, before Castiel goes on. “It wasn’t one of my finest decisions. Both trusting Rachel and asking the guy out. He punched me in the face, called me _faggot_ , but worse than that had been my so-called friend standing behind a corner with a group of football players laughing at me. The best day in that school year was when my parents decided to move and I had to change schools.”

A minute or so ticks by and neither Cas nor Dean speak a word while the shop around them stays busy as usual. After some moments Dean can’t stay still anymore.

“I’m so, so sorry about what happened to you Cas. Nobody deserves to get harassed and definitely not for something like what gender you prefer. That’s just sick!”

“I’m glad you think that way,” Cas says quietly, then takes a deep breath and his features relax noticeable, “I put it behind me, it’s been an unpleasant experience but it’s over and I never had any problems like this afterwards. “

“You’re remarkable,” Dean blurts out and only when he sees Cas’ eyes widening in a surprised, nearly incredulous way, he realizes that he actually said it out loud, so he goes on, “You’re remarkable, Cas. I mean it. I guess it would’ve put me down, if I would’ve been in your situation. I had the support of my family, too, when I found out that I like both men and women, well, my remaining family…” he waits for a moment, searches Cas’ face for any reaction but the other man just smiles warmly and doesn’t push for details, for which Dean is grateful. It’s not the right time to start with his sad family history, so instead, he continues what he wants to say, “but I’ve already been out of school at that time. I don’t think I would have acted on it in the slightest in high school. Teenagers can be dicks!”

“Yeah, they can.” Cas closes the depressing topic by drowning the rest of his coffee and then he starts to gossip about his poetry class. Soon they both laugh again and are absorbed in expansive discussions.

They stay another hour in the coffee shop and drink another cup each. Castiel walks Dean to his car again and the two men part ways on friendly terms with their next encounter not even 24 hours away.

In the three days between Wednesday evening and Saturday evening Dean needs to charge his phone twice as much as usual. That a messenger could consume _that_ much battery power is new to him and he even thinks about buying one of those power banks. Whenever he has a minute to spare he texts with Cas or he takes a look on his phone waiting for an answer from the other man. He never needs to wait long though, as Castiel seems to be glued to his phone, too. They even start with a _good morning_ message each day and continue well into the night until they say their goodnight or just fall asleep.

Their study session on Thursday is nothing special. Well, Dean manages to get a lot of his work done, but they barely talk about anything not class-related. If Dean had his way, they would be chatting and gossiping the entire three hours they have the room to themselves, but Cas turns out to be very strict with college matter and in the end, Dean can’t even complain about it. He gets to spend time with the other man and he always has the reminder that in two short days he would get comfortable on Charlie’s large sofa with popcorn and a Star Wars marathon. And Cas.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everybody, I'm back with a new fluffy chapter. I hope you enjoy it :)  
> This time, it's completely Cas' POV.

**> > Dean:** I pick you up in 20.

 **< < Cas:** Okay, great. I’ll wait outside.

Castiel is still pacing in his bedroom. There’s probably already an imprint on the carpet where he walked up and down in front of his bed. He doesn’t even have a reason to be this nervous. Why should he? It’s just him and two new friends watching videos and eating popcorn and pizza; nothing special. _Not to mention the fact that one of these new friends is a tall, handsome, funny and all in all gorgeous guy, who is apparently also into men and who I have a massive crush on,_ his traitorous mind helpfully reminds him. It makes him want to tear his hair out and he’s getting close as he grabs the dark strands on his head while leaning against the closed door.

Before he knew that Dean is into both men and women, Cas has been fantasizing about him; about going out for dinner, about walking down the streets hand in hand, about Dean kissing him goodnight. He could convince himself that they would never do such things, but that it’d be only due to their gender preferences and that they otherwise would be getting along straight out perfectly. Now, there is a _theoretical_ chance of them being more than friends, and that’s the problem for Castiel. Because now any rejection on the part of Dean would be caused by either Castiel’s personality or his appearance.

He is startled when he hears – and feels – a knock on the door in his back.

“Hey, Cassy, aren’t you going out tonight?” and with that the door opens, so Castiel falls backwards and looks up to a startled but amused Balthazar. Who even designs bedrooms, where the door opens to the outside?

“What a welcome, Cassy,” his friend grins.

“Shut up,” Cas mumbles and stands up.

“Wow, what’s bugging you? I thought you have this nice movie thing with your new friends today, but you look like a ghost,” Balthazar takes in Cas’ appearance before continuing, “Like a ghost who had his fingers in the socket, judging by your hair.”

Castiel runs his fingers through his hair, but he probably doesn’t make it any better with this, so he just sighs. His friend is still standing shortly in front of him, eagerly waiting for a response and tapping a digit on his wrist. Cas thinks a moment about an excuse but in the end, he just goes with the truth, already fearing the mocking and teasing of his roommate.

“It’s just that… I told you about Dean, right? The fellow student in my dad’s class and that I’m meeting him and his friend Charlie tonight?” getting a nod from Balthazar, he continues, “well, you could say I have a bit of a… crush on him.”

“That’s great! I know you are shy, and that it’s difficult for you to go out and talk to people. So, I have to say I’m really proud of you for finding someone you like. And also someone, who is playing for your team, too.”

“What – how…?” Castiel looks at his friend with more than just surprise, “H-how do you know that Dean is into men?”

In that moment Balthazar realizes what he just said and he takes a deep breath while moving his hand in a sweeping gesture. “You know, I- ,” he sighs, “I talked to Meg last night.”

“You _what_?”

“She called me after you two parted after dinner and wanted to know if I’ve already met this Dean-guy. She told me you two were having coffee this week and that you learned he is bisexual. That’s all we talked about, we didn’t gossip about you or anything.”

Castiel huffs.

“Hey, we didn’t mean to make you feel bad, but we haven’t seen you with a guy in… _ever_ and we know you have some bad history and that you are rather… _unexperienced_ \- “

“Oh, so now I’m the shy, naïve virgin, who needs to be protected?”, Cas fumes just a bit. It’s true he has no real experience, but that doesn’t make his friends talking behind his back any better.

“No, but we’re your friends and, okay, we might be worried a bit, but just because we want this guy to be good for you. You deserve it, Cassy! And we are really, really proud you had the guts to ask him to join you for coffee and everything. So please, don’t be mad at us!”

Castiel covers his face in his hands and exhales. “I’m not mad at you. I just… I _knew_ you two were going to make a fuss about all this. Yes, I’m really glad that Dean and I seem to be friends now, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to be more anytime soon.”

“But,… you said yourself you have a crush on him, so I suppose you want to _get to know_ this guy, if you know what I mean,” Balthazar says and wiggles with his eyebrows.

Castiel groans, “Yes, I know what you mean, and can you please stop saying things like this? I’m already nervous enough that I’m going to make a fool out of myself because I can’t stay platonic around Dean.”

“Why would you try to stay platonic around that guy?”

“Because, I really like him. I feel comfortable around him and I don’t want to ruin that! I mean, yes, he apparently feels some kind of sympathy for me too, but just because he’s into men doesn’t mean he’s into _me_!” Castiel practically shouts and based on Balthazar’s face he slightly frightened his friend.

“Whoa, now calm down a bit. Cassy, you’re a great guy. You’re smart and good-looking and when someone gets to know you better you’re even funny. Man, if I would swing that way, I would’ve hit it off with you _ages_ ago!” Balthazar says and emphasizes his statement with a very piercing look.

“Thank you… I guess,” comes Cas’ response, “That’s really nice of you to say.”

“And it’s true! So, please, if you like that guy don’t let your own self-doubts stand in your way.” The blond man seems to want to carve this statement into Castiel’s brain.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Cas answers quietly, “It still baffles me how comfortable and easy it is with Dean. I even told him about Rachel and the whole high school disaster. He was very nice about it, told me he’s sorry and that no one deserves to undergo such harassment.”

“Wow, you really have it going for him if you told him that story. And I’m glad he isn’t a dick!” A moment of silence falls over them after this before Balthazar claps his hands and says, “So, is he hot?”

Castiel has to laugh at this change of topics, but he’s glad the bad mood is gone.

“If by ‘hot’,” and Castiel even makes the air quotes, “you mean tall, stunning and utterly gorgeous, then yes.”

Balthazar just whistles and both men double over laughing. When Cas takes a look at his watch he nearly chokes on air.

“I need to get going. Dean will be here any minute.”

“What, he’s picking you up? I thought this isn’t a date,” the blond man replies.

“It isn’t, but Charlie doesn’t live on the campus so Dean picks me up with his car.”

Castiel takes one last look in the mirror, tries to get his hair a bit decent and grabs a bag full of sweets he bought a few hours earlier. He already changed into sweats as Dean had helpfully informed him he would need them. They are going to spend at least a few hours on Charlies sofa, so it really is going to be more comfortable this way. And because Dean is so kind to pick him up and also drive him home later that evening, Castiel doesn’t need jeans to get to Charlie’s.

When he’s about to leave, he notices Balthazar grabbing his keys and standing directly behind him in the doorframe.

“Where are you going?” Castiel asks his friend.

“I’m coming with you. Don’t worry, I’ll be very unsuspicious, you’re not gonna notice I’m even there. I have to take a look at Dean myself if Meg wants my judgment.”

That makes Cas stop in his track. “No, you’re not spying on me and him, okay?”

“Oh, come on, Cassy. I’m not gonna make you look like a fool. I’ll just stand somewhere doing very unsuspicious things, so I can take a look at your boy!” Balthazar says as he follows Cas down the stairs with a little swing in his steps.

“And what kind of ‘unsuspicious things’ are on your mind?”

“Don’t know. I kinda thought I’m gonna wing it.”

Castiel sighs and silently counts to ten before reaching the end of the stairs. There’s no way he’ll be able to make Balthazar turn around and go up to their apartment, so he just hopes – no, prays – that this isn’t going to be embarrassing.

He waits on the front steps of his dorm and pointedly doesn’t look in Balthazar’s direction, who sits on a bench nearby and plays with his phone. It’s only a minute or two until the man, whose features Castiel is by now downright familiar with, shows up and smiles so bright, that the dark-haired student gets lost in it for a moment and misses to inform his facial muscles to smile back.

“Hey Cas!”

“Hello, Dean,” Castiel responses. For a moment, it seems as if Dean is going to hug him, but the green-eyed man awkwardly switches the movement into shoving his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket he wears over a dark sweater.

“You got everything you need?”

“Yes, we can get going. Thank you again for picking me up. It would have been a rather uncomfortable bus ride otherwise. Especially to get back to my apartment.”

“Anytime.” Dean starts walking down to the parking lot and Castiel follows him. Out of the corner of his eyes he can see Balthazar not-quite-discreetly making photos and then giving Cas a thumb up. He knows his two friends will drill him with questions tomorrow.

It’s the first time he sits in Dean’s car, his baby, after having seen the black beauty of a vehicle a few times before. The interior is as spacious as it looks like from the outside and the worn but smooth leather of the seats is soft and comfortable and adds its own aroma to the masculine and inviting atmosphere. Castiel smiles as Dean gently pats the dashboard before he starts the engine. From the speaker comes some kind of rock music, and Dean turns down the volume a bit. They’re on the road and head away from campus grounds, through downtown Lawrence and turn onto the courtyard of a converted industrial building. The bricks and iron framed windows contrast with blooming wines covering the walls and colorful drapes behind large glass surfaces on several stories.

Castiel takes in the scenery as they park near the painted double door.

“Charlie lives in a loft?”

“Yeah,” Dean answers, “She bought the whole place in freshman year of college and made her own Villa Villekulla out of it.”

“She _owns_ it?” Castiel’s eyes go wide with this information “How was she able to afford it?”

“She’s a wizard with a computer, works for companies since high school; something with IT-security. I asked her once and her answer was ‘I would need to kill you if I’d tell you’. Hell, I don’t even know why she wastes her time getting a degree, when she’s already deep into business.”

Castiel is astounded. He knew about Charlie’s major and her affinity with computers but now he imagines the feisty and enthusiastic redhead in company of starchy men in suits and in his head, it seems quite… odd. She probably bosses around everyone where she works and the thought makes him smile.

“She lives on the second floor, the first is rented to some start-up guys who use it as an office and the top floor is shared by a bunch of students,” Dean continues.

“The more I learn about her, the more she fascinates me,” Cas says while following Dean into the building and up the stairs until they stand in front of a door, which is undoubtedly Charlie’s, with the famous The-Lord-of-the-Rings quote ‘speak friend and enter’ in Elvish written on it.

Dean opens the door after a short knock – it’s unlocked – and they step into the entrance area of a spacious loft.

“Good evening, my queen,” Dean says with a bow, but before Castiel can wonder about the unusual greeting he gets attacked by Charlie, who rushes past Dean and embraces him in a hug.

“Hello, bitches!” she chirps and squeezes a little bit tighter before finally releasing Cas “I’m so glad you made it. I’ve got everything ready for us. We can order pizza, I have popcorn, Dean already brought some snacks over this morning; nothing to stop us from storming the diabetes-kingdom.”

“Hello Charlie,” Cas replies when he’s caught his breath, “Thank you again for inviting me. I brought some sweets, too.”

“Aww, that’s so sweet – no pun intended. And you don’t have to thank me, you cutie. If anything, _I_ have to thank _you_! It’s gonna be so much fun to see your reactions to the films.”

With that, she takes the bag out of his hand, pats Dean on the cheek and makes her way into the living area and then to the kitchen. When Dean follows her, so does Castiel and he looks around in awe. The loft is very… Charlie. Everything practically screams the redhead’s name, beginning with the shelves stuffed full of books and DVDs and knick-knack effectively separating each area in the apartment, over the big desk with three monitors and a huge desk chair, and ending with the living area covered in pillows and blankets and with a popcorn machine in one corner.

Castiel stops in front of the enormous screen of Charlie’s TV, which is framed on top with a rack displaying a row of little figurines.

“Your Hermione collection is impressive. They’re even arranged chronologically. At least, as far as I can tell,” Cas says and smiles in Charlie’s direction.

“Did we just become best friends?” comes the high voice of the redhead.

Castiel joins the two other students in the kitchen, which is just as impressive as the rest of the loft.

“Yeah, I know, the kitchen’s great,” Dean says, “It’s a shame, she doesn’t use it for more than the fridge and microwave.”

“Hey, I let you use all this stuff for your Great-British-Bake-Off imitation!” comes the reply.

Dean blushes at that and how it accentuates his freckles is beyond cute to Castiel, who says “I think it’s great that you bake. I tried it myself a few times, but I guess I’m just better at eating.”

“Thanks man,” Dean blushes more and empties Castiel’s bag onto the counter, “Hey, you brought licorice?”

“Yes.” It’s more a question than a statement.

“Dean _loves_ licorice,” Charlie says and nudges Dean with her shoulder.

“Me too!” Castiel responses and grins at the other man with wide eyes.

“You can go to the sofa, Cas. Grab some pillows and blankets, we got this here.” Charlie shoves him out of the kitchen, so he does as she says.

Just as he gets comfortable on the couch, the other two join him and arrange a variety of munchies on the coffee table.

“Here, I got you a beer. I don’t know if you drink any, but…,” Dean says while handing him a bottle and scratching his neck in the typical and adorable Dean-Winchester-way, “I saw it this morning and it reminded me of you.”

Castiel looks at the bottle in his hand. It’s a craft beer with… _honey_.

“That’s- I mean- thank you, Dean.” He doesn’t know if the corners of his mouth will ever not be up when he is around Dean, but right in this moment, Castiel is fighting against tears of happiness. _Can this man be any more perfect?_ He thinks to himself and takes a sip.

He’s never been an excessive drinker and doesn’t directly enjoy the taste of beer, but this drink is heavenly and he sips from the bottle like it’s filled with ambrosia. Maybe it’s not the beer itself, maybe it’s just that Dean bought it for him, that Dean remembered he likes honey, and that Dean looked so utterly cute and dreamy when he handed it over, but that doesn’t matter to Castiel in this moment. He quietly moans around the bottleneck and when he looks up at the other man again, Dean’s face is blushed and he swallows before tearing his gaze away and sitting down on the couch.

“It’s really good, Dean. I like it a lot.”

“That’s great. I hoped you’d like it,” Dean answers and quickly takes a sip from his own drink.

Charlie was standing in front of them the whole time and watched them with a grin. She takes a seat on the sofa herself after she put a disk in her Blu-ray player. She’s sitting to Castiel’s left and spreads so that he has to scoot over to Dean a bit, which makes them sit close enough so their upper arms are touching. Castiel needs to control his breathing, feeling the warmth radiating from the handsome man to his right, and he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to follow the film at all.

They start watching and while Castiel gets distracted from time to time by Dean’s body beside him, he is absorbed into the world on the screen in front of him right from the beginning. It’s thrilling, and funny, and he’s already deep into both the story and the characters. After the first film finishes, they make a short pause to use the bathroom and refill their drinks.

“Dean had such a huge crush on Han Solo a few years back,” Charlie says when they sit on the couch again.

“I can understand that. He’s quite handsome,” Castiel answers.

“But I guess he prefers a bit darker hair now,” the redhead smirks and winks at Cas, who just looks confused at his friend.

He doesn’t get much time to sort through Charlie’s statement, as Dean returns and they start the second movie. Over the course of it, the two men shift together even closer and as they get comfortable, they actually lean against each other slightly. It’s a wonderful feeling, the strong, muscular shoulder and arm beside him, holding him in place, and the warmth of Dean’s body as well as his very own scent, makes Castiel want to stay in this moment forever. Eventually, however, they finish the three films and it’s already past midnight. Cas stretches his back and yawns, just then realizing how tired he actually is.

“So,” Charlie looks at him with expectation. She doesn’t seem to be affected by the late hour at all, “What do you think? I observed your reaction from time to time and it seemed you had fun, but I need to hear it from yourself.”

“I liked it. Very much so. I can definitely understand now why you wanted me to watch it,” he grins and that seems to encourage her even more in her eagerness.

“Yes! Oh, we’re so gonna do more of that!”

“Yeah, Charlie, but not tonight. I’m quite busted,” Dean yawns.

“Well, then back to your beds, you amateurs. No, Cas, leave it. I’ll do that tomorrow,” she says at Castiel’s attempt to clear off the table.

“Okay, good night. And thanks for the evening, it’s been really nice,” Dean kisses her cheek and stretches a bit before heading in direction of the door.

“Good night, Charlie,” Cas also bids goodbye and when the redhead taps a finger on her cheek, he kisses her, too.

As he stands up, he realizes it’s been the same cheek Dean kissed before, and he blushes. _I’m pathetic_ he thinks and runs a hand over his face before he follows Dean out the door – with a last quick wave to Charlie – and down the stairs to the other man’s car.

They sit there in silence for a moment and Castiel plays with his fingers while he feels Dean glancing at him.

“You really had fun, right?” the blond man asks.

“Yes. I really liked it. Not only the films, but the whole evening. I’ve never done a lot of socializing like this. And Dean,” Castiel thinks a moment about how to phrase his next sentence, “it was very nice of you to buy the beer for me. I have to say that I usually don’t drink, but it tasted great _.”_

 _“_ I noticed,” Dean smiles and looks him in the eyes for a few seconds longer, then fires the engine, “let’s get you back home.”

Their ride back to the dorm is quiet, neither Castiel nor the taller man speaks a word, the only noise is the sound of the engine and their combined breathing. Although silence between the two of them never feels uncomfortable for Castiel, he starts chewing on his bottom lip. The closer they come to the campus, the more he feels depressed about their inevitable parting this night. After his conversation with Balthazar he actually had the plan to make a move; not to jump at the other man or kiss him or anything bold like this – that would’ve been rather inappropriate considering Charlie’s presence – but he wanted to look Dean in the eye for a moment longer each time, he wanted to maybe slightly brush his hand when passing the handsome student. He even pictured to himself one of the most stereotyped rom-com occurrences, where they both grab into the popcorn bowl at the same time, but nothing like this happened. Every time Dean smiled at him, he smiled back but quickly averted the eye contact because he felt the blush creeping up his cheeks. The period he leaned against the other man doesn’t count, as Dean probably didn’t even notice.

Castiel sighs quietly. _Why does this have to be so difficult. I’m going to make a fool out of myself and Dean will laugh at me… no, he’s too perfect, he would pity me, telling me how sorry he is, but that we’re just friends_. After Balthazar managed to cheer him up and make him be optimistic about his relationship with Dean, Castiel needs only a few seconds to talk himself into pessimism again.

He’s too busy sorting through his own thoughts to realize they arrived in the student parking lot outside his dorm and only Dean shutting off the engine makes him look up.

“So….,” Dean stretches the word, “I-, I’ll walk you to the door.” It’s more spoken to himself than to Castiel and the blond student quickly gets out of the car and walks around to open the door for Cas.

“Thank you.”

They walk side by side, it’s only a few steps, but Castiel notices the tension in the body next to him. A group of students pass them, going to – or coming from – a party, but otherwise the outside of the building is deserted. They come to a halt at the foot of the stairs leading up to the main entrance.

“Look, you know-,” Dean starts. He runs both hands over his face and exhales before continuing and looking Castiel directly in the eyes, “This is probably ridiculous, please interrupt me if I’m bothering you, em.. but, look, Cas, I really like you and I enjoyed this evening so much and also our study session and when we had coffee together and lunch, but…”

 _But I don’t think we match, so I return to my other friends and it’s possibly better we don’t see each other anymore_ , Castiel completes in his head. He feels a wetness start to affect his sight.

“… I was wondering if you would… go out with me some day. For dinner. We never got to order pizza tonight. Or for a movie. I know, we just had a marathon, so this is probably a stupid idea, but-,“ Dean stutters and even in the low light of the street lamp Castiel can see the slight red color tinging Deans freckled cheeks.

“Are you… asking me out for a date?” he can barely believe what is happening this moment, but Castiel’s misery from just a second ago dissipates and is replaced with a pounding heart and tingling skin.

“Yeah,” Dean lowers his face to hide distress and a sad smile, “I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable, I thought… never mind. It won’t happen again. I’m sorry.”

He starts to turn away but Castiel stops him by putting a hand to the other man’s chest. “No, I mean… You don’t make me feel uncomfortable. Never. I always feel very happy and relaxed around you. And I really would like to go out with you, Dean.”

The blinding smile and look of pure disbelief he gets in return lights something in Castiel he probably will never understand. But he doesn’t care. It feels overpowering and warm and like nothing he ever felt before.

“You would go out with me?”

“Yes, I would like that a lot. I… hadn’t the courage to ask you myself, so I’m glad you did it.” Cas swears he can see the stars reflect in the wide globes of green eyes in front of him. He still has his hand on Dean’s chest and even shifted closer while he spoke.

The blond man licks his full, pink lips and Castiel intuitively copies the movement. He is in the process of finding an appropriate way to say goodbye – even if it’s the last thing he wants to do in this moment – when time around him seems to freeze and both his heartbeat and his breathing stops for a second because Dean’s mouth, the mouth of this beautiful, smart and funny man, is on his.

The taller man has closed the distance between them by stepping into Castiel’s personal space and leaning down the one or two inches separating them in height. It’s simultaneously completely like Cas envisioned it and not like it at all. Every action and movement transforms into reality, even his own hesitation and delay in kissing back. But his imagination has been limited in the field of how it would _feel_ like to kiss Dean. The warm body pressed against his own, the slight touch of their breaths against each other’s skin, the tingle of stubble brushing against his jaw. It’s not heated in the slightest, it probably doesn’t even look sexy from the outside, just sweet little pecks and nibbles, but it explodes so many nerve endings on Castiel’s skin, that he shivers. Maybe it can’t be expected from him to be objective, but if he’d ever search in the many novels filling his bookshelves for the perfect first kiss, it would have a hard time competing with this very moment.

They part, both breathing heavily and smiling like they would never need anything else ever again. This time, it’s Cas who speaks first – if _speak_ is even the right word for the breathy and dreamy sigh he lets out.

“Wow.”

“Yeah, wow indeed.”

They chuckle and Castiel thinks this is probably how teenagers feel with their first physical approaches.

“I- I think I’m going now. Good night, Cas,” Dean says with one last little peck to the dark-haired man’s slightly swollen lips and walks backwards to his car.

Castiel waits until the sound of the Impala’s engine fades away before he enters his dorm and makes his way upstairs on shaky legs. He opens the door to his apartment and sinks down right then and there, with his back to the now closed front door and lets his head fall against it.

“Well, Look who’s coming back in the middle of the night,” Balthazar must have heard him coming in and is now standing in the doorframe to his bedroom with a grin on his face, “whoa, what happened to you, Cassy? Did your guy wore you out that much?” The question is accompanied by a wink, but Castiel can just assume that, as his eyes are closed and he tries to get his heartbeat and breathing under control.

“He kissed me.” He says it so quietly, he’s not sure he meant it as an affirmation for himself or information for his friend.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey folks, I have a new chapter already finished. It's been quite a boring weekend and nasty weather, so I used the days (and nights) to write Cas' and Dean's date. It's a long chapter, I hope it doesn't drag on boringly for you, but how could I possibly shorten their first date? ;)  
> I first intended this fic to be a short-ish little thing for you to read here and there, but it kind of set up his own mind and now I'm already over 20k!!!! holy shit, I never thought I would actually make it this far, but right now I can't get enough.  
> Have a nice start into the new week y'all and as always: much fun reading this chapter!

Dean has to clutch to the steering wheel on his drive back home so his shaking body doesn’t let him end in the roadside ditch. He’s still unsure if the events of the evening really happened or if his mind, again, sends him down a loop of fantasies and imagination. _I kissed him,_ he thinks. _We kissed._ It doesn’t really change anything to replace the personal pronoun, but Dean’s thoughts are unable to shift around anything else then the fact that they indeed kissed, so he envisions a variety of ways to describe the act.

It felt glorious, not particularly arousing or skilled, but it was so different from what he is used. Until now, kissing always seemed like one way to initiate physical contact, like the entrance ticket to an amusement park waiting right behind it. Dean always enjoyed the anticipation of standing in line, but he never thought it would make a great main attraction. That was, until he kissed Castiel. The tall, dark-haired man with the honey-over-gravel voice and eyes which probably have their own Hex color code, has been so vulnerable and sweet in his arms. His lack of experience has been obvious but after a moment of hesitation and possibly surprise, he kissed back with such ambition and enthusiasm, Dean forgot all the times he’d been kissed before. There wasn’t even tongue included, but maybe because of the innocent and sweet little pecks, it had thrown Dean off track.

And Castiel also accepted to go out with him. On a date. Dean needs to find a suitable location, nothing too fancy – he doesn’t need to impress the other man, Castiel isn’t superficial at all – but something cozy, where they can talk and be a bit to themselves. He knows he’s going to spend the next days think it over and probably despair of the possibilities, but right now, his mood is too good, his feelings too overwhelming to let something dampen his euphoria. So, despite the late hour, he turns up the volume of Led Zeppelin and sings along to ‘Whole Lotta Love’.

 

\----------

 

The following Sunday morning, Dean wakes up with a grin and doesn’t even doze on his memory foam for half an hour longer, like he uses to do on work-free days, and instead jumps out of bed and uses the gained extra time under the hot spray of the shower. After slipping into a pair of sweats and a worn-out shirt, both still slightly smelling of the fading scent of his fabric softener, he stands in front of his fridge and considers what to eat for breakfast. He settles for pancakes, not a daily treat he indulges in, but it’s Sunday, he’s happy and no Sammy far and wide he has to explain himself to.

Covering the tower in front of him in syrup, he thinks about that Cas surely eats his pancakes with honey. Dean smiles and looks over to his phone, which lies on the table beside him. Would it be intrusive to write the other student today? He has no real matter to discuss; the date – and Dean grins to himself at the thought of it – still has to be planned, but he needs time to think about it first, before he talks to Cas about it, so what would be his cause to write the handsome man? Sure, they sent each other a good morning message over the las few days, but wouldn’t it be too pushy to do that after last night?

While balancing pros and cons in his mind and chewing on his pancakes, his phone buzzes and the display lights up. Dean nearly wipes the plate off the table in his nervousness, but as soon as he sees Charlie’s name on top of the message he just received, he gets a bit sad it isn’t from Cas.

 **> > The Queen:** heya, sleeping beauty. You up?

 **< < Dean:** Morning, Charlie.

 **> > The Queen:** You dropped off our Prince Charming last night?

 **< < Dean:** Yup.

 **> > The Queen:** …

 **> > The Queen:** … and?

 **> > The Queen:** did you go through with the plan?

 **< < Dean:** kinda.

 **> > The Queen:** ???

 **> > The Queen:** What do you mean ‘kinda’? You did ask him out, or?

 **< < Dean:** Jup.

 **> > The Queen:** AND???? Man, you’re killing me here!

 **< < Dean:** He said yes… and I kissed him.

Dean waits for the indicative three points, showing Charlie is writing back, but instead he nearly drops his phone, startled by the vibration of an incoming call.

“OMG! Dean fucking Winchester, are you kidding me? You can’t just inform me over _text_ that you kissed your Romeo!” The redhead screams through the line.

“Whoa, calm down, Charlie! _You_ texted me first. Plus, it’s just been a kiss, I didn’t get engaged or anything,” Dean tries, but in his head he can clearly see Charlie’s bitchface right now. Both she and his brother have a PhD in that field.

“Whose balls are you trying to bust here, Winchester? You think I believe a guy, who bought a new pair of sweats for a movie night because he wanted to look good for his study buddy and who drove through half Lawrence to find a store where they sell beer with honey, also for said man, that it’s been ‘just a kiss’? Do you even know me?” The teasing tone in her voice is familiar and amicably and Dean has to admit she’s right. They’ve been best friends right from the start, when they met in senior year of high school. There’s no way he can ever hide something from her, and he knows he doesn’t need to, because Charlie is the most empathic and unprejudiced person he knows.

“Yeah, okay, ‘just a kiss’ is a bit of an understatement,” he huffs with a smile at the thought back to the previous night, “Understatement of the century, you might say. Damn, Charlie, I don’t even know how to describe it. Definitely nothing you would expect from me.”

“Because it was sweet, cheesy and romantic?”

“By all means.”

And so he tells her everything. From the drive, over his nervousness and fear of rejection when he asked Cas out, to the kiss. He can’t deny Charlie her request for details and he eagerly describes the feeling of Cas’ lips on his own. He lacks for the right words but he tries, on and on, and his best friend doesn’t interrupt him but just listens to the narration of his utter amazement about how incredible an innocent, sweet kiss could feel.

“Wow,” she says when he finishes his description, “I wish I’m gonna feel like this after a first kiss someday. You have it bad for the guy, and I’m glad to be able to see the day Dean Winchester is looking for more than a quick flirt.”

“It’s like a hormonal fun house! Like I’m in puberty again. But I want to make it right with Cas. Maybe I shouldn’t have kissed him _before_ our actual first date, but I just couldn’t keep it cool. He looked so adorable,” Dean sighs.

They talk for a few minutes longer and Dean asks Charlie about her opinion for the best first-date-location, but they hang up eventually. Looking at the time on his phone he considers his options. It’s 9:56 am. _It’d still work as a good-morning-message if I text Cas_. _It would be suspicious if I DON’T text him today, when I did it over the last week. He’ll probably think I regret last night, right?_ The last thought wins him over and he taps his conversation with Cas in the messenger.

 **< < Dean:** Good Morning. Did you sleep well?

He says to himself not to wait for an answer. Cas might still be asleep, or out for a coffee, or busy with college stuff. It doesn’t help at all, so while he cleans up the kitchen counter and washes his dishes, he always has his phone right at hand. After about 15 minutes, he gets his response.

 **> > Cas:** Good Morning, Dean :) I slept very well, in fact. And you?

Dean’s hands are still wet with water and dish soap and he needs to dry them before being able to use the touch screen.

 **< < Dean:** Me too. Like a baby.

 **> > Cas:** Charlie texted me earlier:

The next message is a forwarding.

 **> > Charlie to Cas:** Hey Cas. I heard my handmaiden made a move and asked you out. That’s so great! You two are beyond cute together. If he doesn’t treat you right, tell me and I kick his ass!!! xoxo

  _Oh god…_ Dean doesn’t know if his face is as red right now as it feels like, but he can’t believe that Charlie texted Cas. Well, knowing the redhead, he can, but still. It’s embarrassing and he doesn’t know how to react.

 **> > Cas:** I guess with ‘handmaiden’ she means you.

 **< < Dean:** Yeah, thats kind of a long story…

 **> > Cas:** I understand. So, you talked to Charlie about last night?

 **< < Dean:** Yes… she pestered me.

After a moment of thinking, he adds:

 **< < Dean:** No, that’s not exactly true… I mean, yes, she pestered me about last night, but I might have gone into detail by myself. I’m sorry if that wasn’t okay…

He covers his face in his hands but then stares at the screen, where Castiel takes his time to text back. The waiting is killing Dean. His heart pounds so loud he can actually hear it.

 **> > Cas:** Were those details… positive?

 _Oh fuck,_ Dean thinks to himself, _he thinks I didn’t like the kiss_. Well, he’s not really into clarifying something like this over text, but calling the other man isn’t an option. He doesn’t trust his voice right now.

<< **Dean:** Yes, of course! Cas, I truly liked it. I asked you out on a date because I like you and, okay, I didn’t really plan to kiss you, but it was great. 100%.

This time, Castiel’s response doesn’t take more than a few seconds.

>> **Cas:** I have to admit I’m relieved to read that. You’re a great kisser, Dean, and I know I’m not quite as experienced, so I worried it might not have been the same for you.

<< **Dean:** What, no! Cas, really, I’m not kidding. It was perfect!

>> **Cas:** You exaggerate my skills. But otherwise, yes, it’s been perfect.

<< **Dean:** I’m not exaggerating. okay, maybe you need a bit practice, but that can be arranged ;)

He wants to slap himself. This kind of cocky behavior is exactly what he wants to avoid. He needs to do everything right with Cas and his usual pushy comments are not helping right now.

>> **Cas:** I guess that would help indeed ;)

Dean definitely likes this new flirty Cas, but despite his own usual bravado, he doesn’t know how to react. So instead, he maneuvers the conversation into safe territory.

<< **Dean:** I’m thinking about where I should take you for dinner. Do you know the Roadhouse?

>> **Cas:** No, I’ve never heard of it.

<< **Dean:** It’s on the outskirts. I nice little place, not fancy, but they make on hell of a burger. And they have a lot of other stuff. I guess everyone finds something they like there.

>> **Cas:** Sounds good to me. I love burgers :)

<< **Dean:** More than honey?

>> **Cas:** haha, no, but it’s coming close.

<< **Dean:** what do you think about Thursday? I don’t think we need to meet for a study session this week and since we’re off early from classes…

Thursday would be perfect. He likes the Roadhouse and loves the people there. They’ve always been family to him. Ellen, the owner, is the wife of Dean’s and Sam’s surrogate father Bobby, and she and her daughter Jo, who Dean knows from childhood, work in the burger place together. Even Benny works there part-time beside his job at the garage. But as much as he thinks the cozy, quaint atmosphere and heavenly food would be perfect for a first date, he knows that his extended family would spy on them the whole time. So, Thursday would be the right evening. Both Jo and Benny have a night off, and it’s not as busy as on weekends.

>> **Cas:** I’d like that, Thursday is alright :)

<< **Dean:** So, 7pm at your place sounds good? I’m picking you up with baby.

>> **Cas:** That sounds perfect, Dean, I’m really looking forward to it.

It’s almost noon, when they both put their phones down to give their intention to other duties. Dean does his laundry and finishes a project for one of his classes. The rest of the day blurs by with a combination of hanging out in front of the TV, having a discussion with Charlie about her text to Cas, and heating up meal prep from Friday before more television and eventually going to bed.

The first half of the following week is just as uneventful as has been Sunday afternoon. Dean and Cas still text on hourly basis, but they somehow unspokenly agreed on keeping it amicable. It’s weird at first for Dean, but as he’s unwilling to initiate anything more intimate, he soon learns how fascinating it is that they still can be so easy and comfortable around each other after having kissed. That doesn’t mean that he’s not craving for Castiel’s touch from time to time and it’s pretty obvious how close they sit in Chuck’s class on Tuesday, but apart from sweet little looks to the side and shy smiles, nothing has changed compared to the week before. When Dean thinks about it, nothing really has changed.

They have lunch with Charlie again, and the redhead intensely watches their interactions, but she doesn’t say anything. It’s not like they avoid the subject, but they just have so many other things to talk about. However, later that day Charlie does ask Dean about the stage of their relationship and the tall man just shrugs. It may seem odd from the outside, but they kind of save up the romantic stuff for Thursday when they in fact have time to themselves to talk about it and to just enjoy each other’s company without college stuff or other things interrupting them.

The cheerful informatics student keeps her promise to not play counterspy between them anymore, but she still gives her attention to the two student’s relationship in another way. So, it shouldn’t have surprised Dean, when Benny gives him a hug after their shift and wishes him good luck for Thursday. One the one hand, it’s heartwarming to have friends, who partake in his happiness so much, but on the other hand, their efforts to reassure him make him even more nervous for the date.

Both Charlie and Benny never reacted like this before, when he introduced a date or told them about someone he’s going out with. Even his friends seem to want him to make everything right. And they probably have a point. Since he finished high school, he never dated anyone he already had been friends with before, not even for a short amount of time as his friendship with Castiel. He probably didn’t in high school either. All he knew about the girls he dated back than, was that they looked gorgeous and had taken a liking to him. If he thinks about it now, he was a superficial asshole back then, but who can really blame a horny teenager the girls nearly jumped at.

With Cas it’s going to be so different. Dean’s usual approach won’t work, out of two reasons. First, he already knows Cas and likes him, so they will skip a lot of small talk and introduction, and he also already knows that there is a spark between them – hell, there’s a whole firework factory. And secondly, and more importantly, he isn’t in search of a quick fling with Cas. Dean even pictures their second and third and fourth date in his head. Not to find something to top the first, not to find the best moment to get intimate with the other man, but because there is so much more he wants to experience with the blue-eyed student. The other day, he saw an advertisement for a thanksgiving farmer’s market next month and immediately saved the date in his phone as it sounded just perfect for the two of them.

So when Thursday arrives, Dean is both nervous and excited for the evening to come. At noon he starts to notice that it hasn’t necessarily been a good idea to plan the date for the one day he is off class pretty early and doesn’t work at all, because with all the free hours left until seven p.m., he is pacing up and down in his tiny living room and envisions every possible way this evening could end in a disaster. Fortunately, his best friend knows him well enough to have seen this coming and calls him to raise his optimism again.

 A few hours later, Dean takes his sweet time in the shower and to choose his clothes, a dark Henley and the best pair of jeans he owns. He uses styling gel to tidy his hair just a bit more than usual and applies a hint of fragrance to his neck. It doesn’t look like he tries too hard, but he definitely cleans up well. In combination with his leather jacket it’s not fancy but very fitting for a first date.

He turns into the parking lot outside the dorm at ten minutes to seven and intends to stay in his car for a few minutes, but Castiel texts him that he’s already waiting outside, so Dean gets out of his baby, takes a deep breath and makes his way over to his date.

He considers a few ways to nonchalantly greet Castiel but as soon as the dark-haired man comes into view, Dean forgets every plan and can hardly do more than stare. He just hopes not to drool. Cas wears a sapphire blue button-down with the top inches left unbuttoned under a dark jacket, and a flattering tight, charcoal colored pair of jeans. To Dean’s delight, the other man’s hair is as tousled as always, it just wouldn’t be Cas otherwise, but he shaved and the lack of stubble sets off the sharp edge of his jaw and cheekbones imposingly.

Dean has to clear his throats before his voice works properly. “Hey Cas.”

The other student looks up and smiles, his eyes even brighter in color and brilliance because of the dress shirt. “Good evening, Dean. You look ravishing.”

Dean chuckles softly, he’s never been called that, and all he can do is return the compliment. “Thanks. You look stunning yourself.”

They both blush and stay silent for a moment, before Dean clears his throat again and holds out his right hand.

“Shall we?”

Castiel returns a beaming smile and takes the offered hand with his own left. Their fingers slot together like they were made for it.

“Indeed!”

Dean’s mouth corners feel like they are stapled to his earlobes and not even that creepy guy sitting on a bench nearby, who wears a low-cut V-neck and seems to observe them, can dampen his overjoying mood.

He opens the door of his baby so Cas can slide into the passenger side, before he takes his seat behind the steering wheel. Their ten minutes drive is calm, with the soft sound of classic rock in the background, and they make small talk. It’s not forced or awkward, they’re both really interested in the other man’s day and they talk and laugh easily. Turning onto the gravel covered lot of the Roadhouse and shutting off the engine of his car, Dean indicates for Castiel to wait and sprints around his baby to open the door for the dark-haired man. Cas chuckles.

“You’re such a gentleman, Dean.”

“Well, yeah, I can if I want to,” he smiles back.

They enter the cozy place and Dean waves over to Ellen behind the bar. She waves back and points at the far end of the restaurant. It’s not nearly packed, so Dean didn’t need to make a reservation, but he still called Ellen the day before so she could hold free a booth in a quiet corner for them.

“It looks great, Dean. A very relaxing atmosphere. You made a good choice of location,” Cas says softly.

Their hands are joined again, they slipped together immediately and naturally outside the car, and Dean can feel Cas’ gravelly voice vibrate through his arms with how close they are. He has to smile at the compliment and by now is sure that the evening is going to be great.

“Wait till you taste the burgers.”

They settle into a booth, slightly shielded from the other patrons, and sit face to face.

While Cas takes a look at the menu, Dean grabs on too, even if he already knows what he’s going to order. After only a few minutes, Ellen herself comes to their table.

“Hello boys, you already know what you want?”

Dean points at Cas to let him order first.

“Hello, yes, I… I take the bacon-cheeseburger with fried onions and fries as a side. And a soda, please.”

While Ellen tries to hide a smile, Dean openly stares at the man in front of him.

“So, two bacon-cheeseburger with fried onions and fries, and two sodas, mh?” she expectantly looks at the blond student, who just nods.

When Ellen returned with their drinks and leaves again for the kitchen, Castiel speaks first.

“You ordered the same?”

“Well, I always eat the bacon-cheeseburger with fried onions and fries here,” Dean answers and grins widely.

“What a coincidence. An I guess that tells me the burger is very delicious.”

“You can bet your life on it.”

They fall into comfortable silence for a moment and both sip their drinks.

“Hey, I talked to Charlie about that message she sent you on Sunday. She promised to not interfere in our… well, our affairs, when we don’t ask her to. She just got a bit excited,” Dean starts.

“Oh, okay. But I really didn’t take it negatively. She’s your best friend, of course you tell her about the things happening in your life and, please, don’t stop that on my account. I know her and she’s my friend now, too, so she’ll probably learn about a lot of stuff I tell you anyway. If there’s anything I don’t want you to tell her, I know I just have to say it,” Cas says and Dean can see he genuinely means it, “She really seems excited about us going out. I wonder if it’s just because of the way she is, or if it’s about the two of us specifically.”

“I guess it’s a bit of both. She just gets easily fascinated and hypes everything. And a great part is because she likes you a lot,” and Dean thinks it’s a huge bonus that his best friend likes Cas. But, well, who wouldn’t?

“She usually doesn’t like the people you go out with?” Castiel continues.

“She usually doesn’t _know_ the people I go out with.”

It’s not a good subject for a date, but seeing Cas’ quizzical look, he has to go on.

“Look, it’s probably the worst thing you can say to a date, but I don’t really have a lucky with relationships.”

The other man’s features soften and he pointedly waits for direct eye-contact with Dean before he starts to speak. “Dean, I hope you see me as more than a date. I’m your friend, too. You don’t have to make a good first impression tonight, you already did that, so don’t feel obliged to navigate around certain topics. I won’t push you to talk about things you don’t want to, but please know that I would like to hear about everything that concerns you. That includes stories of past relationships, even if I unfortunately can’t comply with stories myself. I only rather like you to not delve into details.”

Dean needs a moment to process how perfect the man in front of him is.

“You’re amazing, you know that, Cas?” he says and makes Cas blush and look down with a shy and adorable smile. “I never really dated people I knew from more than seeing. I mostly talked with them a couple of times about random stuff before… you know… or I even picked people up at bars. Not my most glorious moments, but hey, I kinda got along with it. But it’s different now with you, of course, so I guess Charlie is a bit excited on my behalf.”

“She’s a truly good friend.”

“Yeah, she is.”

They stop talking when Ellen arrives with their food and between bits, they settle for lighter, trivial topics. When Cas takes a mouthful of his burger for the first time, however, Dean slightly shifts in his seat. The dark-haired man has his eyes closed and moans around his bite, which immediately reminds Dean of Saturday, when he needed a lot of concentration to stay decent in Charlies living room as Castiel made those very filthy noises around the bottle neck of his beer. So, maybe it would get a bit more difficult than he expected, to keep his rambling thoughts technical.

“This is heavenly! Really, I don’t think I have ever eaten a better burger, and I got around a lot,” Cas says and pointedly licks a bit of sauce from his fingers. It doesn’t help Dean in his attempt to keep it cool.

“That’s not even exaggerated, as I know it’s the best burger. Global.”

“Mhhh,” Castiel just nods with another mouthful and again moans quietly before swallowing, “Do you know our waitress from somewhere else, besides coming here regularly? I noticed she doesn’t wait any other tables.”

“Yeah, Ellen. You could say she’s family,” Dean replies.

“Oh, an aunt?”

“Not in the strict sense, but kinda. She’s married to my uncle Bobby, well, strictly spoken, he isn’t my uncle, too. It’s kinda complicated.”

“Mh…,” Cas seems to think about something for a moment, “I guessed there is some backstory. You never really talk about your family and… you mentioned last week that there is a sad history to it. You don’t have to talk about it, of course.”

“Yeah, I know, but it’s funny, I kind of want to talk about it. But it’s most certainly gonna dampen the mood. Not really a great topic for a date.” Dean says.

Again, Cas smiles softly, but there’s a sad undertone in it. “Dean, I already said it. I don’t consider this a normal date. I don’t even know what that would look like. Think about it more of a dinner between two friends who are also attracted to each other and who possibly want to take their relationship not into a different, but a more… profound direction. If you want to talk about your family, feel free to do so. If you don’t, I won’t push. Maybe it’s fair that I tell you some embarrassing stories about my family, too. Believe me, there’s plenty.”

Dean thinks about what Cas just said for a moment and the other man gives him the time. He likes the way how Castiel described their relationship, or soon-to-be-relationship. _Not a different but a more profound direction_ resonates through his mind. It’s a nice thought, but one Dean needs to become accustomed to. He knows that becoming lovers wouldn’t directly make them stop being friends, but as he never before experienced something like that, his mind probably will take some time adjusting to it.

“You’re right, Cas. I thought that, “of course I want to tell you about my family”, because you’re my friend. But then I thought, ‘oh no, you can’t tell someone you just started to date about your sad backstory’. But that’s bullshit. You’re not two persons, outside of meeting for dinner you’re my friend and tonight my date. You’re both, and that’s great, and I’m so glad you are the way you are.”

So he starts talking. He tells Cas about his mother dying in a fire when he was four, and about his dad drinking and eventually dying in a car crash when he just finished high school. He talks about Bobby and Ellen helping him to raise Sammy because their dad was too drunk or too rapt in his grief, about how he worked full-time in the auto-shop for a year after high school to raise the money for college because he didn’t want to take Bobby’s offer to pay for it. And all the time while he talks, Cas listens. He listens and gives a reassuring or sympathetic smile but he never shows pity. When Dean finishes his narration, the dark-haired man sits quiet for a moment before he starts to speak.

“You’re an amazing man, Dean Winchester. You had a hard time growing up, but you grew up great and passionate and empathic. You’ve come far and you can be proud of it. It tells me a lot how many people care deeply about you and if I may say it, I consider myself one of them.”

“Thanks, Cas,” Dean says in a throaty voice. He has to swallow hard with all those emotions rushing through him.

For a minute or two they just sit there, eat the last bit of their fries and drink the last sips of their sodas but otherwise stay still. Cas is the first to talk again.

“My mom writes gay porn.”

Dean nearly chokes on the rest of liquid he just tried to swallow.

“What?”

“My mother writes very graphic homosexual pornography in her free-time,” Castiel repeats.

“H-how.. Why?” Dean asks and looks shocked at his friend.

“I don’t know, but she does. Mostly fanfiction about the characters in my father’s novels.”

“Oh my god. You weren’t kidding me, when you said you have embarrassing stories about your family. That’s just…. I don’t even know how to describe this. Is it a new hobby or does she write for a long time?”

“Let’s say she does it long enough for me still having been in high school.”

“I-I don’t know what to say. What does your dad say to that?” Dean asks.

“He ignores it, mostly. I don’t think there is any other way to cope with it,” Castiel answers, “It’s been even more embarrassing as a teenager then it is now, but as I was coming to terms with my own sexuality at that time, I thought ‘at least she is open-minded and will support me’. I definitely underestimated my mother. The moment I told her I’m gay, she started to use me for… _inspiration_ and _research_.”

Dean still can’t believe they are actually talking about Cas’ mom and gay porn in one context. The absurdity of this topic even grows the longer Castiel explains.

“She what?”

“She asked me repeatedly about my opinion, what’s currently ‘in’ in the gay scene, or she gave me her work to read it through. I told you, I didn’t really act on my sexuality so I just corrected her typos,” the dark-haired man explains.

They need a few minutes more to cover this embarrassing subject and then change to other topics. They order dessert and Dean can talk Cas into trying the apple pie with vanilla ice cream, one of his favorites, and somehow the whole event reminds him of their coffee meeting the week before. It’s easy and comfortable and they can talk about funny things as well as things that depress them and it doesn’t even matter, because every second with Cas is a gift.

But it still is a date, not only a dinner between friends, which is obvious to everyone seeing their interactions from the outside. Their hands lie on the table and once in a while they reach over the top to touch and pat each other. They also stare into each other’s eyes a lot and while they did that frequently before, it’s now heading into more of seductive glances.

It’s getting later and later and only because they both have classes the next day and the Roadhouse closes earlier on weekdays, Dean eventually asks for the bill. Sliding out of the booth their bodies immediately find one another and Dean puts his hand on Cas’ lower back, a gesture the shorter man quickly leans into, as they walk outside to the car. Even on the drive back to the campus, their bodies never really part, because Dean intertwines his fingers with Cas’ on the seat between them.

This time, Dean doesn’t see Cas to the front door of the room, but accompanies the other student up until they end in front of Castiel’s apartment. They still smile shyly at each other but their anticipation for a good night kiss has been touchable in the car.

Dean moves first, again, and gently cups Cas’ jaw and cheek to let their mouths meet in a soft but lingering kiss. The shorter man kisses back immediately and puts his hands on each side of Dean’s hip. They touch and nibble for a moment and don’t seem to think about parting anytime soon. As Dean’s hand, the one covering Cas’ face, slides to the other man’s neck and fingers tenderly brush through the short hairs there, Castiel lets his own hands glide to Dean’s lower back, which makes both men stand even closer than before, with their knees touching and their chests pressed together.

Dean slightly changes the angle of their heads and gently licks over Cas’ bottom lip, which makes the dark-haired man gasp and Dean uses this to gingerly explore the other student’s mouth with his tongue. Soon he hears and feels a moan escaping Castiel’s throat and he parts their lips before the kiss can get any more heated, leaving both men breathing heavily into each other’s personal space.

“Good night, Cas.” Dean says after he caught his breath.

“Good night, Dean. I hope we can repeat this anytime soon” Cas answers, biting his pink and swollen bottom lip seductively.

“We’re definitely gonna repeat that.”

Castiel turns around and unlocks the door to slip into his apartment but gives Dean a last kiss, which is much more than a goodbye peck.

It’s only three weeks since the wonderful misaddressed email, which introduced them, but Dean realizes in this moment, he wants nothing more than to keep this handsome, smart and gorgeous man around for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I'm gonna need one or two more chapters to bring this to a satisfying end. Thanks for still showing up and reading this fic :)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, here it is. The story is coming to an end and chapter 7 will be just a very short epilogue that came to my mind last-minute. I'll post it tomorrow.  
> I decided to keep the rating mature. I tried a few drafts with explicit content, but it never really satisfied me. I'm still searching for a good balance between realism and flourish wording. So I hope those of you, who maybe wanted to see the story go in a different direction, can forgive my inexperience.

When Castiel wakes up on Friday morning, two things attract his attention. The first is a prominent tent in his blanket, nothing totally new to him – he may be an unexperienced virgin, but he’s still a young and healthy man – but also nothing absolutely usual in his morning routine. The second is a thought grazing his mind. _Is Dean Winchester my boyfriend?_ The first is taken care of quickly under the hot spray of the shower, the second, however, preys on his mind through breakfast and his first class.

The evening before has been more than Castiel could have hoped for. The location was perfect, so was the food and he is proud of how they could talk about topics no matter how serious or do silly and still found their way back to an easy and relaxing atmosphere around each other. Cas felt brave enough to speak as he thinks and was rewarded with Dean opening up to him. The night has been a total success, even without the kissing, which was the cherry on top. Or more like a whole cherry pie on top.

He never before has gone as far as he did with Dean last night. He remembers some kisses on parties Balthazar had dragged him to, but there was never groping or even tongue. So, when Dean deepened their good night kiss, tangled his fingers in Cas’ hair and licked into his mouth, the dark-haired student had no comparison as to what to expect. He surely didn’t expect to feel every inch of skin on his body to tingle and his hands to automatically grab into the fabric of Dean’s shirt like he’d need to hold on for dear life. And he most certainly didn’t expect the moan escaping his throat and his blood to wander southwards at rapid speed.

The moment Dean parted their mouths was both blessing and curse, as Castiel didn’t want to stop but also didn’t want to make a fool out of himself by coming in his pants.  
With the security of both sexual attraction and deep amicable feelings – something Cas is still amazed about, considering how they know each other for only three weeks – the only thing leaving him uncertain is how to call the relationship they have. It’s nagging at him but he doesn’t find the courage to ask Dean when they start texting for this day.

 

\----------

 

**> > Dean:** Now Benny is pestering me too about yesterday because Charlie told him. Maybe I should just record the story and send it to everyone.

**< < Cas:** I could need a copy, too. Balthazar even skipped his morning lecture to join me for a coffee and ask about yesterday.

**> > Dean:** wow, that’s radical.

**< < Cas:** Yes, but he usually searches for a reason to skip class. He can be unnerving, though. He even waited outside when you picked me up. Both yesterday and last Saturday.

**> > Dean:** Oh, no. Please don’t tell me he’s that guy with the low v-neck.

**< < Cas:** He is.

**> > Dean: **I knew that guy was watching us. He’s a bit creepy.

**< < Cas:** You could say I have my own Charlie and Benny. Balthazar and Meg talk about us and he watched us to give her a first-hand impression on how you look like. Sorry :)

**> > Dean:** *sigh* please remind me to NEVER introduce the four of them.

**< < Cas:** I guess we’d need to emigrate if that happened.

It’s noon and they have already written far over 20 messages, Dean even sent a voice mail and being able to listen to the other man lights up Cas’ day even more.

In the evening, he has dinner with Meg, as usual, and she tries for about five minutes to hold her composure but eventually she grins and eagerly asks for dirty details of the night before.

“That’s hot, Clarence! At that pace, you’re definitely in for the three dates rule,” she smiles while munching on her pasta.

“You mean sex, right?” Castiel asks carefully.

“Yes, Cas, I mean sex. How can you look like this and be such a prude?” she points her fork at him while speaking.

“I’m not a prude,“ he nearly whines, “I just –“

“You haven’t thought about going horizontal with Dean yet?”

Cas blushes and pointedly looks down at his hands in his lap.

“Oh my god! You HAVE! Out with it, no hiding from me!” Meg sets her plate to the side and rests her head on her hands, ready to listen.

“I’m not going to talk with you about this,” he revolts but Meg just stares at him and flutters her eyelashes, “Okay, it’s hard not to think about anything when you get kissed like that.”

“So, you wouldn’t be averse to it, if it happened?”

“I wouldn’t – how do you call it? – ‘go the whole way’ if Dean would ask me today. But I kind of quickly adapt to the thought,” Cas tries to express his feelings about this topic.

It’s true, he doesn’t feel comfortable with having sex with Dean right away, but he notices that he’s craving for Dean’s touch more and more as the days pass by. Maybe it’s a subject he should discuss with Dean as well, but just like the question about their relationship status, he doesn’t feel brave enough to bring it up.

 

\----------

 

On Saturday, Castiel meets up with Dean and Charlie again for the evening and they watch the Star Wars prequels, because Cas wants to form his own opinion. In the end, he has to agree with the other two students about the trilogies. The whole time he sits close to Dean, they have their fingers intertwined and Castiel even lays his head on the taller man’s shoulder. Their kiss good night, when Dean walks him to his apartment door again, is just as passionate as after their date but Castiel is prepared this time and can pull himself together far better. He even runs his hands over Dean’s back and briefly explores the other man’s mouth on his own before they part panting.

On Sunday, they spontaneously meet at the coffee shop and drink and chat about class, family and friends for an hour or two and Dean places his arm around Cas’ shoulder on their way back to the campus. He presses the shorter man against his car and despite this heated and passionate movement, his kiss is tenderly and soft and sweet, so when Dean left in his baby, Cas still stands in the parking lot for a minute to catch his breath.

They develop a routine over the next week. They don’t see each other every day, and when they do, it’s mostly for an hour or two, but it’s still the highlight of Castiel’s day. Every time he sees something interesting or he gets worked up about vanities, his first thought is to tell Dean. He also needs to organize his time to still finish all of his college projects, which are in full swing right now, and he finds a system that works perfectly for him.

In the second week after their date, on Wednesday, Dean tells Cas about the local movie theater showing ‘Back to the Future’ on Saturday. Charlie is busy with a job for some international company, so they decided to cancel this week’s video night. It’s going to be their second official date and Cas eagerly agrees to it with the only demand to Dean letting him pay this time.

It’s not an evening performance, rather late afternoon, but having eaten a jumbo bag of popcorn and a family size package of licorice, they’re not nearly hungry enough to have dinner afterwards. So instead, they make a detour to the spot Dean parked his car a few minutes away and enjoy the mild autumn chill of mid-October. Eventually, however, they end up in front of Cas’ dorm room again and share their by now practiced, nonverbal way of saying “it’s been wonderful and I’m sad it’s already over for tonight”.

Just as this thought grazes his mind, Castiel notices how much he wants this evening to go on, so he takes all his bravery, which is always slightly more powerful after an encounter with the taller man, and makes a move.

“You, ehm, could come inside, it’s barely after eight. That means, if you want to,” he babbles and looks down as the blush creeps up his face. So much to his bravery.

The look he gets from Dean is a bit surprised but quickly changes into a soft and warm grin.

“Sure. I’d like that.”

Cas only needs two attempts to turn the key with his shaking hands. Inside, they are greeted by the sound of the shower running in the bathroom.

“Your roommate?” Dean asks.

“Yes,” Castiel sighs. He thought Balthazar was out on a party with his friends. Otherwise he wouldn’t have invited Dean to come in. Well, it’s too late now anyway.

The taller man walks around in the small living room / kitchen and gives an affirming nod.

“You have a nice apartment, Cas. Looks pretty cozy for a dorm room.”

“Balthazar and I bought the sofa together. The rest you see are remains from the previous tenants.”

Cas quickly shows his own room to Dean, but it’s tiny and it would be a bit weird to sit on his bed with Dean, so they retreat to the two-seater couch. He hadn’t really planned what to do, know that he has Dean in his apartment, so they settle into an awkward moment of silence until he gets up to get himself and his guest a coke from the fridge.

“Thanks,” Dean says as he accepts the cold can.

Right then, Balthazar comes out of the bathroom in a cloud of steam, with only a towel around his hips. At least it’s a large towel.

“Mh, so I didn’t imagine the voices,” he says and steps closer to where Dean has raised from the sofa and holds out his hand, “Hi, I’m Balthazar, Castiel’s roommate.”

“Hi, I’m Dean.”

“Excuse my appearance. I didn’t quite expected guests. I’m going to dress quickly,” the bare-chested man says and disappears into his room.

“What is he? British?” Dean whispers when they’re alone again.

“French. But I haven’t yet detected how he comes to have that accent.”

They sit in silence for a moment and drink from their cans until Balthazar enters the room again, this time dressed in a very tight, very low-cut shirt and similar snug pants.

“So, how was your evening so far?”

“Great,” Cas answers his roommate, “but why are you here? I thought your party started at eight.”

Balthazar chuckles. “Yes, it _started_ at eight. But who is on time for a party? I would be alone there. Anyway, consider me on my way, I’m just grabbing my stuff and then you have the flat to yourself.”

Before he leaves, he turns around with a cocky smile. “Nice to finally have met you, Dean. Good night, boys, I’ll probably come back _very_ late. Be good, you two.”

Finally alone, Cas wants to curl up and die.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know he would be home,” he says while pointedly not looking at Dean, who just chuckles in return.  
“It’s okay, Cas. You successfully warned me about his behavior, so it wasn’t much of a surprise.”

Now that they’re alone, the awkward stiffness between them dissipates and Dean pulls Cas close to himself to nibble at the other man’s jaw. The dark-haired student sighs pleased into the touch and puts his arms around the taller man’s shoulder despite the uncomfortable angle. After just a few moments, Dean stiffens in his arms and hesitantly pulls back.

“What’s wrong?” Castiel asks.

“Nothing… I- I just remembered something I should probably tell you.” Dean’s nervous answer makes Cas tense up, too.

“Okay.” He carefully says.

“It’s actually been Charlie, who drew my attention to it. I-,” he stutters and grabs his neck, “I don’t want to be pushy, Cas. I know that this is all new to you, so I should really go at your pace. The last thing I want, is to force you into doing things you’re not ready for. You can always tell me if I’m going too far, that’s really no problem. Yeah, I just wanted you to know that. I’m sorry if I’ve been too forward with initiating… _stuff_.”

“Dean,” Cas says softly, “you haven’t done anything I wasn’t ready for so far. I’m sorry if it seemed like it because I don’t initiate anything between us. I just don’t know _how_. I guess I still need your guidance for a while, but I liked everything you’ve done. Very much so.”

Dean sighs like Cas had just taken the world off his shoulders.

“Okay, Cas, that’s great. But really, if you don’t like anything or if you want to try something different, just tell me.”

“I will. Can we go back to kissing now?”

They both chuckle at this and what starts as soft pecks and nibbles, ends in heavy making out. The couch isn’t really made for it and now Cas understands Balthazar’s constant complaints about the two-seater to be too small.

“It’s getting quite uncomfortable, Cas,” Dean pants between kisses.

“We could go to my room.”

That makes Dean stop in his actions and Cas whines quietly.

“Cas, we don’t have to…” the taller man starts but Castiel interrupts him. If Dean was able to talk about the topic, Cas can clarify his own thoughts.

“I guess it would help to tell you my thoughts, too. I’m not ready to have intercourse yet,” and Dean grimaces at the choice of words, “but I’m not a delicate flower, Dean. I don’t have any experience in this field, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know about the varieties of physical contact. You forget, my mom writes gay porn.”

That makes Dean choke on air, but he has to nod, because Cas’ argument is reasonable. So, they make their way into the bedroom and settle on the much more comfy bed.

Their make-out session immediately grows more heated and Dean carefully lets his hands glide under Cas’ shirt, which makes the shorter man shiver in anticipation. He feels safe in the other student’s arms and in the way their soft, gentle touches grow firmer as the minutes pass by. Somewhere in between, both Cas and Dean gasp or moan and the sounds contribute to the passionate atmosphere. When Dean’s fingers lightly brush over Castiel’s ribs, the dark-haired man pushes him away a bit.

“Sorry, Cas. I try to keep it down a bit,” the taller man says while catching his breath.

“No, please, don’t! It’s alright, Dean. I just don’t want to come in my pants,” clarifies a strongly tousled Cas.

“Oh, okay. Well –,” Dean starts and looks down between their bodies, “so, ehm… I-I get that you don’t want to have… ehm… _penetrative_ sex, but… Would you let me do something? You can stop me, whenever you want, of course. I just guess, I could help you with taking care of… well, that.” He’s vaguely pointing to where Castiel is sporting a very obvious bulge in his jeans.  
Cas just nods. “I trust you, Dean.”

And boy, does Dean take care of him. Castiel is nervous at first, when the blonde man lays him on his back and slowly makes his way down his body, but soon he realizes what’s about to happen. He never would have dreamed of feeling the skilled mouth of this handsome, brilliant man in a complete other way than he imagined for this evening. The heat and pressure is more than he can take in the long run, that’s for sure, but he treasures every precious second in case he would never be able to feel it again.

Maybe it’s Dean’s skill, or it’s the knowledge that _Dean_ is doing that to him, or it’s Cas’ inexperience, but too soon and not soon enough, Cas feels heat and tension boiling in his lower stomach and he’s barely able to warn Dean, who, not for one second, stops in his action.

The white fog and electric buzz of his climax fades slowly and when it’s gone, Castiel feels sated, peaceful and slightly numb. He needs a moment to locate himself in his bed and Dean sitting between his slightly spread legs.

“How are you feeling?” the blond man asks.

“Amazing,” Cas answers. He’s not able to form more words for a minute. Then he realizes what had happened and what probably still needs to happen. “That was incredible, Dean. But what about you?”

“About me?” he asks and seems to get Cas’ question as he looks down at himself, “Oh, it’s okay. I’m gonna survive it.”

“No, that’s not fair. You helped me out in a spectacular way. I don’t think I can reciprocate that specific action, for now, but I have hands,” Castiel suggests.

"Cas, you really don’t have to –,” Deans starts but stops with the look he gets from the other man.

“You would let me, if I wanted to, right?”

"Of course, Cas.”

“I want to,” he says with as much self-confidence and convincement as he can and Dean nods in understanding.

“Do you have lotion?” the taller student asks.

As an answer, Castiel grabs into the drawer of his nightstand and takes out a small bottle of lotion.

“Like I said, Dean, I’m only inexperienced in interpersonal activity.”

The blonde man’s eyes widen and he eagerly takes off his shirt.

“I like that shirt. White stains don’t look good on it,” he explains and shrugs.

Cas shifts closer to go on with his plan. He guesses that he should work along the things he likes to do to himself. It seems to work and the soft noises he gets from Dean in return are more than worth to overcome his nervousness for. The green-eyed man lasts longer but after a few minutes, Castiel sees this beautiful man lose his composure and just give himself up to the bliss as he comes.

Cas quickly disappears to the bathroom to get a damp washcloth and clean them both up. They tidy up themselves a bit and snuggle together on Cas’ bed to watch an episode of Dr. Sexy together on the laptop. Near the end, both men yawn and Dean looks at his watch.

“I should get going,” he says and while Castiel doesn’t want him to go, he has to admit that Dean is right. Even if the other man would agree to stay overnight, his bed just isn’t made to comfortably accommodate two over-six-feet men. That’s a problem he should approach in the future.

He walks Dean to the apartment door and tightly hugs the taller man. They kiss good bye, but as they’re both tired and sated from their orgasms, it’s rather tender and gentle than heated and passionate. When Dean is already halfway out the door, Cas grabs him by the wrist to get his attention.

“Dean, I wanted to ask you for quite some time now: Are you my boyfriend?”

The freckled face of the handsome man in front of him lights up in a brilliant smile.

“You’d like that?” and after a nod from Cas he goes on, “Of course I’m your boyfriend, Cas.”

They kiss one last time before Dean leaves. For this night.

Lying in the bed he just had his first sexual encounter in – he wanted to change the sheets the next day anyway – Castiel lies awake for a few minutes more and his last thought before falling into a peaceful sleep is, _I have a boyfriend._


	7. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a funny little epilogue :) hope you enjoy it

 

** Group chat: Game of Phones **

 

**Meg:** Are we having dinner together before trivia?

**Charlie:** I thought so.

**Balthazar:** Definitely!

**Meg:** What about the others?

**Meg:** Benny? Cas? Dean?

**Benny:** Sorry guys, been busy. What time are we talking about?

**Charlie:** dunno, 7? We have to celebrate Meg’s promotion.

**Meg:** Oh yeah!

**Balthazar:** sounds good to me. Does that mean you’re paying? ;)

**Meg:** In your dream!!

**Benny:** If we’d go by salary, Charlie would be paying permanently.

**Charlie:** Hey!! Be careful, your safe game is on MY xbox.

**Balthazar:** I guess we’re all okay with7?

**Meg:** Yes.

**Benny:** Me, too.

**Charlie:** What’s up with Dean and Cas?

**Balthazar:** Oh, come on. Do you really think they have the time to check their phones right now. They’re probably busy, too ;)

**Charlie:**???

**Benny:** We helped them to put the bed together yesterday.

**Meg:** >.< You owe me brain bleach!!!

**Balthazar:** Well, boo hoo! I had to put up with them for months! Dorm walls are thin!

**Charlie:** It’s your own fault! I remember, you were the one helping Cas to buy a bigger bed! Dean already had a queen.

**Balthazar:** Well, now they can get it on in their own flat. I hope their neighbors have headphones.

**Charlie:** It’s always the quiet ones ;)

**Balthazar:** Believe me, it’s not Cas.

**Meg:** x.X

**Benny:** I didn’t need to know that -.-

**Dean:** What the hell is wrong with you?! Don’t you have other issues?

**Charlie:** Hey :)

**Meg:** FYI, I didn’t want to talk about it.

**Balthazar:** Hey, Dean, I see you two got away from each other.

**Dean:** We were GROCERY SHOPPING! We have a lot of empty cabinets to fill, you morons!

**Balthazar:** “filling cabinets”, so that’s what you call it now ;)

**Benny:** oh, come on, leave them alone.

**Meg:** Balthazar, it’s not funny anymore.

**Charlie:** It is funny, but Benny is right.

**Cas:** Are you talking about me and Dean having sex?

**Benny:** …oh man.

**Charlie:** hahaha… Oh, Cas, you sweetie.  <3

**Dean:** They WERE. Past tense! They were and will never do it again, capisce?

**Meg:** I wasn’t even okay with it in the first place

**Benny:** … do I really have to answer to that?

**Charlie:** You forget that I ship you two hard, but yeah, even I have some limits.

**Dean:** Balthazar?

**Balthazar:** capisce -.-

**Balthazar:** but really, I don’t get what your problem is. I wasn’t ashamed or whiny when I told you about my ménage à … whats French for ‘twelve’?

**Cas:** Your ARE French…

**Cas:** sorry, I meant *you

**Balthazar:** Yes, but it wouldn’t have had the same effect ;)

**Meg:** again: x.X

**Benny:** Can we please get back to food?

**Charlie:** YES!

**Dean:** Oh god… please!

**Cas:** seven sounded good to everyone? Because, I guess Dean and I will manage that, too.

**Meg:** Okay, great.

**Benny:** yeah, alright.

**Charlie:** Yay! And Dean, send me the photos from your trip to Palo Alto already!!!

**Cas:** I have some photos, too, Charlie. If you want them.

**Charlie:** give it to me!

**Dean:** -.-

**Balthazar:** So, 7 at the Roadhouse? Fine.

**Dean:** see y’all there.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, wow, so I really finished my first fanfiction ever. It's a bit hard to describe how that feels, but some people of you probably had the same experience somewhere in the past. Don't feel obliged to read through this, I kinda just need to get it out.  
>   
> I started to write so many different storys over the years but never once finished one. Then I came into contact with fanfiction and I thought, "okay, just try it!" and I did. I wrote the first chapter of this (my first story ever written in English, beside school stuff), had no real idea where to go from that, but posting it kind of kept me writing and, yeah, it got WAY longer than I intended in the end, but that doesn't really matter, because I FINISHED it. I know it's not the most thrilling plot one can imagine and I definitely will spend some time on practice, but it's the first time in... ever, that it felt more like a challenge to me when I wasn't satisfied with my draft or wasn't making any progress, rather than just being frustrated about it.  
>   
> And a lot of that had to do with you guys actually reading my writing and leaving kudos and sweet comments, so a very VERY big thank you to all of you.  
>   
> I already have a lot of ideas shaping in my mind and by now I'm pretty sure I'll succeed in realizing those ideas.  
> So, yeah, I hope you enjoyed it and maybe we'll 'see' each other in my next fic :) :) :)


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